Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said Monday that the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson should be “no hero” to people frustrated with the American health insurance industry.
“In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this — he is no hero,” Shapiro said at a press conference after 26-year-old Luigi Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, early Monday and identified as the suspect in Thompson’s New York City slaying last week.
“The real hero in this story is the person who called 911 at McDonald’s this morning, real heroes every day in our society, and the women and men who put on uniforms like these and go out in our communities to keep us safe,” he continued. “This killer is not a hero.”
Mangione was arrested with a multipage manifesto on his person expressing “ill will towards corporate America,” New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at an earlier press conference Monday. The manifesto slammed the health care industry, saying that “these parasites had it coming” and “it had to be done,” a law enforcement official told CNN.
Shapiro said he is sympathetic to people who feel victimized by American health insurance companies like UnitedHealthcare but that he has no tolerance for someone violently taking matters into their own hands.
“In America, we do not kill people in cold blood to resolve policy differences or express a viewpoint,” the governor said. “I understand people have real frustration with our health care system, and I have worked to address that throughout my career, but I have no tolerance, nor should anyone, for one man using an illegal ghost gun to murder someone because he thinks his opinion matters most in a civil society.”
UnitedHealthcare has faced numerous complaints and investigations spearheaded by patients, doctors and lawmakers over its denial of medical claims, The New York Times reported last week.
Notably, a Senate committee investigation that concluded in October identified UnitedHealthcare as one of a few companies that have been intentionally denying expensive nursing care to maximize profits. The committee also found that UnitedHealthcare’s denial rate for post-acute care for people with Medicare Advantage plans rose from 10.9% in 2020 to 22.7% just two years later.