Suspect in UnitedHealth CEO’s killing was not a customer of insurance plans
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Luigi Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania on Dec 9.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
NEW YORK – The suspect charged in the killing of UnitedHealth Group chief executive Brian Thompson was not a member of its insurance plans, a company spokesperson said.
Neither Luigi Mangione nor his mother were UnitedHealthcare members, the company said, dispelling the idea that the alleged shooting was motivated by a grievance from his personal experience with the nation’s largest health insurer.
Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania on Dec 9 with a manifesto referencing the company’s size, inaccurately describing UnitedHealth as the fourth-largest company by market value, Bloomberg News reported.
He is fighting extradition to New York, where he is facing murder charges in Thompson’s death.
Since the shooting, people speculated about whether the gunman was a customer upset over a denied medical claim or other insurance problems.
Mangione’s own history of back pain and surgery, revealed in online postings and reporting from people who spent time with him, prompted questions about how his experience with the medical system might have driven him to violence.
It appears that his grievances were more broad-based, however. The document he was found with contrasted the high cost of health care with faltering life expectancy in the US.
UnitedHealth is continuing to work with law enforcement, the spokesperson said. Bloomberg
