URGENT: The killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson left an anti-insurance company message at the scene of Thompson's murder

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the rising American fury at our broken medical system. It now seems that anger may have cost a top healthcare executive his life.

Ammunition used to gun down UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson Wednesday in Manhattan was engraved with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose,” multiple news outlets report.

The words echo the title of an obscure 2010 book about tactics insurance companies use to avoid paying claims. They are the strongest evidence yet Thompson was killed for his job running UnitedHealthcare, a massive health insurer.

The targeted murder of a top executive at a major public company is unprecedented in recent American history. Also unprecedented is the vitriol it has sparked, particularly on the new left-leaning social media platform Bluesky, where users - including the journalist Taylor Lorenz, who worked at the Washington Post until a few months ago - have appeared to cheer Thompson’s murder.

Last month, I wrote here that the “crisis in American medicine” was driving “broad societal anger.” If Thompson was indeed killed over his role at UnitedHealthcare, it would be the most dangerous eruption of that anger the United States has yet seen.

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(Breaking news, when it matters. For less than 20 cents a day.)

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ABC News first reported that police had found words engraved on the shell casings early Thursday morning, about 18 hours after the shooter gunned Thompson down on 54th Street in midtown Manhattan.

Thompson had traveled to New York for a conference that UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group, holds with investors. UnitedHealth Group is among the largest companies in the world, with 440,000 employees and $372 billion in revenues in 2023. The health insurance unit, which Thompson ran, accounted for over half those sales and provided coverage for 35 million people.

Graphic video of Thompson’s killing shows the shooter, wearing a mask and backpack, targeted the executive and gunned him down quickly and proficiently using a pistol equipped with a silencer.

The assassin then ran to a waiting e-bike and rode north into Central Park, which begins a few blocks from the Hilton. Police have not disclosed if they know where or when he left the park, which is about 2.5 miles long. Nor have they publicly identified him or said publicly if they believe they know who he is.

Some weapons and combat experts have pointed to minor mistakes the killer made during the shooting, but at a minimum he appears to have had some military, law enforcement, or other weapons training.

Late Thursday morning, the New York Police Department released the first photo of the suspected gunman that shows his face without a mask. He appears to be white and in his late twenties or thirties (he appears somewhat older in the photo on the right than the one on the left).

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(Have you seen this man?)

SOURCE

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The reports from police that the shell casings found at the scene were engraved with the words “deny,” “defend,” and “depose” back the theory that Thompson’s killer was upset about the executive’s work at United Healthcare.

The words bear a remarkable similarity to the title of an obscure 2010 non-fiction book from a New Jersey law professor called:

Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It

Amazon’s description of the book calls it “an expose of insurance injustice and a plan for consumers and lawmakers to fight back... The denial of valid insurance claims is not occasional or accidental or the fault of a few bad employees.”

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UnitedHealthcare and its parent, UnitedHealth Group, have profited hugely from Obamacare and consolidation in the insurance and healthcare industries. Since 2010, UnitedHealth Group’s stock has risen about 20-fold - a stunning return for a business in a highly regulated industry that depends mostly on government funding.

As its stock has soared, its executives have also profited. Thompson made about $30 million in the last three years. Along the way, the company has gained a reputation for denying care and refusing to pay claims.

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(Good for shareholders, not so good for policyholders.)

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Unless and until the gunman is identified and captured, his motives will remain speculative.

But for now, the killer appears to have gone out of his way to suggest he targeted Brian Thompson over medical care that UnitedHealthcare refused to provide. And a disconcerting number of Americans appear willing to support him publicly.