bloated salary and make those shareholders happy?

Had I been in that area at the time.

and he's not the only one.

how was his marriage?

how many people would have known that he was going to be there at that time?

I'm not saying that it could not have been someone who was denied care, lost a loved one due to denial of care, or whatever. I'm saying there are other possible scenarios. For a rich guy like this, most of the time, it's the spouse.

Not sure we'll ever know though. The shooter was pretty slick.

If they've been bilking Medicare since before his time as CEO, maybe he was angling for a fraction of any recovery. Speculative but this was a skilled shoter who effortlessly cleared a jam and get off more shots that points to a hit. I mentioned early that I feel bad for the detectives who have to chase every angle. These include the board and large investors, any denied claims (thousands or more), personal issues like infidelity or drugs.

This wasnt a professional.

My daughter works as a data analyst at United Healthcare in Minneapolis. For what it’s worth, she viewed Mr Thompson as a really good guy and a skilled businessman but also one with a heart and with more integrity than you might expect to find in a CEO of a multi billion dollar conglomerate.

I posted without finishing my thought. Do I remember now?

I hope you're having a great day!

What actions did he take that would make anyone think he's motivated by patient care and not profit/money in his own pocket???

Sometimes good people do end up working for corporations that are evil and yes making money doing it.

He was not a well known person so I can believe that in spite of where he worked (which is what people are angry at and he is becoming the symbol of that) he was a decent human being.

I understand the frustration of the posters angry about UHC. I am more inclined that way myself, but reality is complex and nuanced.

UHC is a faceless and clearly horrible corporation. The people who work there are people. Hate tears societies apart.

I try a cognitive cheat where I channel the hate one cannot sometimes help but feel solely at the faceless, nonhuman machine and the policies driving it and not people. I don’t always succeed but it is worth trying.

Horrible times we live in..

When you have a system like capitalism in which the goal is to always strive for the top (while being rewarded by stepping on others to get there), there is going to be a lot of collateral damage so to speak. Most of the time that damage is on the lower end of the scale (the poor) - this time people are freakout out because one of the leaders was taken out.

Maybe he was doing his best within a very flawed system, I can believe that. It doesn't change how many people died indirectly as a result of his policies etc. People were passing around other names of health care executives on social media yesterday. So, public at large is pretty angry about how they are being treated - at least by this particular industry.

Eventually they will figure out it's the system that is the real problem as opposed to individual actors.

welcome to DU and secondly, I find the grave dancing and celebration of this man's assassination by some here very disturbing, I really thought that we were better than this, but it appears, at least among some here, that I'm wrong.

... as part of her retirement benefits and it is the best private insurance I've ever seen. If I couldn't be on VA, I'd want her coverage.

The grave dancing thing is something that's gotten worse since 2016.

like that means anything to the victims.

... accused of breaking any laws whatsofucking ever.

He should have been given a chance to defend himself of any crime or at the very least accused of one before the execution don't you think?

No offense but your comment hasn't a thing to do with the victim or the real crime committed against him, you know murder.

If the murderer felt so vindicated in his actions, why didn't he drop the pistol and wait for the cops?

good for you.
Do you defend Robber Barons also?
Tell me about how the Gilded Age was good for poor people too.
I love a rant lecture.

She also cried and said that he was a really good guy. It's funny how immune even the employees have become to the atrocities committed in the name of capitalism.

Sixty minutes did an expose on how they denied, and delayed, until people went away.

He said we are not like that. I have one of our plans and nothing has ever been denied.
Of course it was labeled the employee only plan so they knew they needed to be nice or someone might whistle blow.

When you work for a company it is easy to put blinders on and ignore the evil ways that they make profits.

That is all

Highest in the industry by some margin. There is no need to make assumptions.

Unless and until the CEOs who are "nice guys" start turning the culture of their companies into "nice guys", their nice guy-ness is just bullshit. I don't care if they're super awesome loving dads at home - if the culture they create is toxic, life-denying, or profits over people, then they aren't really nice guys. Being nice to your family and friends doesn't mean shit if it ain't translating into kindness toward others.

Becoming kinder, nicer parasites.

The phrase 'Low bar' comes to mind.

I have no doubt Mr. Thompson was a perfectly likeable fellow on a one-to-one basis, and he may even have been extremely kind to his employees. But the policy decisions he oversaw as CEO -- particularly the policy of denying most claims initially by algorithm, and having a medical professional review them only when those denials were challenged or appealed, was a policy that was messing with the very real medical needs, and indeed the very lives, of people, most of whom had no choice to opt for anything else. I have no doubt, either, that it wasn't anything personal in his eyes, but just a "business decision." No matter how lovely he might have been as an individual, and how ever generous he may have been with his employees, that doesn't change the fact that this man harmed thousands of people.

And frankly, I think people who make excuses for him are just as much part of the problem!

it's often to deny claims. They profit from not paying for care.

NY is the financial center for the US. That's where the stock analysts and investment firms are. They make tons of money without adding much value to society.

When you need them.

They refused to insure my elderly mother when she moved to a different state and needed insurance to supplement her Medicare. I’m sure it was because my mother had too many healthcare needs, they wouldn’t be able to profit off her. United Healthcare only insures healthy people on Medicare; they take their government Medicare funds and spend as little as possible on actual health care.

To some here on DU, and I won't name names because it's against the ToS, but there are some here who are attempting to justify or just outright reveling in this mans assassination, which to me, is putrid.
That's my opinion, if you don't like it or agree with it, well, I don't really care.

......I emphatically do NOT think it was justified. Your response, in the hierarchy of responses, is directed to me. This is where your silliness comes in, by apparently confusing my original post with statements made by others in response. These are the facts, which may or may not affect your "opinion". That depends on you.

about a CEO performing one of his job duties? Would it have made any difference if he was on the way to speak to doctors, etc...?

......Reagan years, "My first obligation is to the stockholders."

Gunman clearly knew what he was doing, had put a lot of thought into how to both get close enough to guarantee a hit with no collateral damage and to get away as effectively as possible. The location and timing were almost certainly not accidental. This was a message, professionally delivered.

My bet, he was going to make a deal Re the insider trading.

WAY too many mistakes for a professional.

His assassin was in place and waiting. CEO's hotel was just across the street. I am suspicious that someone deliberately sent him on a quick errand of some kind - e.g., "check to be sure that everything is in place for the meeting," "check to be sure that the keynote speaker has registered at the hotel," etc. - setting him up for the hit.

Just a thought.

Did anyone see the film, "Gucci?"

I saw a Sixty Minutes episode which featured the story about a small town bully. It has been some time but I think the town was in Missouri. The bully seems to have been suffering from testosterone poisoning and was a violent, sadistic and dangerous jerk-off to the men and women of the little town,

One Saturday the town was packed with folks from the surrounding rural area. It would seem that most had come to town well armed. The bully and his wife left the tavern and as they started to get in the car (pick up) they experienced a Bonnie and Clyde moment as the towns folk opened up from several directions. Needless to say that the bully failed to survive (although I believe his battered wife was not hurt and the pick up was trashed).

State police investigated but no one wanted to talk about it. Forensics was a nightmare because the autopsy showed multiple shots from different directions and many different calibers and bullet types. I do not think the murder (execution) was ever solved (actually good idea who done it but how to prove) and no one was particularly upset about the gentleman's demise.

Please note that I am just reporting this.... I am not (necessarily) an advocate of mob law. I look at root canal dentistry the same way. I am fearful the there may be more mob law actions in store for us.

It will be very foggy out.

Dang, I just realized that the above was the plot of "Murder On the Orient Express".

The Company (and thus the public face of the company) must have been in constant threat mode. I assume there was plenty of money available for SS-level protection.

So how does this hit go down without it being a suicide mission for the perp?