Luigi Mangione has pled guilty to shooting and killing UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk on December 4, 2024. The killing went viral. The NYPD deployed hundreds of officers to hunt him down. Corporate media covered every detail of his arrest, his appearance, his manifesto, his trial.
The legal system spoke swiftly, loudly, and with the full weight of the state and federal government behind it.
But here’s the question corporate media will never ask: In those same 624 days since Brian Thompson was killed, how many Americans died preventable deaths because HELL Corporations—Health Exploitation Limited Liability Corporations—prioritized profit over their lives?
I did the math. A new study by the Yale School of Public Health finds that a single-payer universal healthcare system could cover all 330M+ Americans, save more than 100,000 lives annually, and still cost $1 trillion less than the current system.
That is 274 preventable deaths every single day.
Over 624 days since Brian Thompson’s death, that is 170,958 preventable deaths.
If all those Americans were one city, it would be—ironically, devastatingly—the 171st largest city in the United States.
Luigi Mangione is in federal custody. The CEOs who enabled the deaths of 170,958 Americans are in their corner offices, collecting bonuses, and gracing the covers of Forbes and Fortune. Does it have to be this way? Let’s Address This.
Which Lives Matter?
One of the most telling facts that has emerged from the Luigi Mangione trial is how he figured out where Brian Thompson would be, and when. Reuters reports:
Mangione said he emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership seeking details of its 2024 investor conference, pretending to be an investor managing more than $50 billion in assets. He said he received a response within an hour, which he said was quicker than previous interactions with insurers.
This encompasses the entire problem with the for-profit healthcare system. When a person is desperate for life-saving healthcare, the response apparently requires time, due diligence, and multiple verifications that a person is really sick — then every attempt to deny the claim anyway. Then suddenly, when a random person wildly claims they have $50 billion to invest, the response is immediate, with no verification, no validation, not even basic security protocol.
This is what unregulated capitalism looks like. And far from anecdotal, Mangione’s experience reflects UnitedHealth’s cruel practices.
For example, a five-year investigation into UnitedHealth’s practices by the FTC found that OptumRx—the group’s pharmacy benefit manager—along with its two main peers, Express Scripts and CVS Caremark Rx, pocketed an extra $7.3 billion over cost through price gouging, overcharging cancer patients by more than 1,000%.
I have questions.
How many of UnitedHealth’s patients suffered financial ruin because they were overcharged by more than 1,000%?
How many died preventable deaths because they and their families could not afford the spiked cost of cancer medications?
If the state can deploy hundreds of officers to hunt down Luigi Mangione for killing one CEO, why can’t they investigate and determine who was responsible for illegally overcharging cancer patients—enabling their financial ruin and death?
Or do all lives not matter anymore? The answer is simple. In this society, a single murder by gun is illegal, but mass murder by pen is just increasing shareholder value.
The killing of the UnitedHealth CEO is a symptom of a system that is already broken—one in which HELL Corporations implement cruel policy at will, no matter the number of people who die as a result, as long as it makes them profit.
You might be wondering why I use the term HELL Corporations. It is not just a play on words. It is because we must stop using the sanitized term “health insurance companies” to describe what these corporations actually do.
These are not benevolent entities providing care—physicians and nurses provide the care. They are not insuring health—we insure our own health with exercise and healthy eating. Instead, they are exploiting illness. And then, after denying us the care we need, they limit their own liability to prevent meaningful accountability.
So let us call them what they are: Health Exploitation Limited Liability Corporations.
HELL Corporations.
The Yale Study Changes Everything—And Nothing Has Changed
Yet despite this systemic exploitation, some (Hakeem Jeffries anyone?) still claim there’s no easy solution to our healthcare system. But there is—universal healthcare. Something every developed nation in the world has implemented, and as a result ensured lower costs, more accessible care, and higher life expectancy.
And now, a new study by the Yale School of Public Health delivers a finding so clear it should end this debate permanently:
A single-payer universal healthcare system could cover every American, save more than 100,000 lives a year, and still cost $1 trillion less than the [current] system.
Every American covered. More than 100,000 lives saved annually. $1 trillion in savings.
You see, the opposition to universal healthcare has never been about cost, quality, wait times, or government inefficiency. Every study on this subject—22 reviewed in comprehensive analysis, including from the right-wing Mercatus Center—reaches the same undeniable conclusion: universal healthcare costs less and saves more lives.
SEE ARTICLE: DEBUNKING EVERY ARGUMENT YOU HEAR AGAINST UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE
The opposition to universal healthcare has always been about one thing: $700 million in annual lobbying investment by HELL Corporations ensure that the politicians who write our healthcare laws remain accountable to them—not to us.
Here’s the bottom line: As of August 18, 2026, in the 624 days since Brian Thompson was killed, 170,958 Americans have died preventable deaths. That is a city. That is parents, children, grandparents, neighbors, coworkers—people who woke up one morning and could not access the care they needed because a HELL Corporation decided their life was worth less than a quarterly earnings report.
Luigi Mangione pled guilty for killing one person.
Who pleads guilty for killing 170,958?
When UnitedHealth Came After My Son
My anger over this disparity isn’t just an abstract theory—it’s in lived reality.
In 2017, I received a call from my wife Ayesha—frantic—as she drove our then 4-year-old son to his doctor while he suffered an asthma attack. I was out of state. I felt helpless. Our son’s doctor would not see him because our insurance company declined coverage on the spot. Ayesha offered to pay out of pocket, clearing out what little we had in our savings. The doctor explained they could not accept cash payments either—our insurance company had a provision restricting cash payments while they were our insurer. Our insurance company was simultaneously denying us coverage and preventing our doctor from treating us.
Finally, Ayesha rushed our son to the emergency room. It took us more than a year to pay the several thousand dollar emergency room bill.
Our insurance company—the one that denied our child care during a medical emergency—was UnitedHealth. UnitedHealth leads the industry in denials.
My son was among the 32% of patients suffering a medical emergency denied care because UnitedHealth determined their right to profit was more important than his right to live. In 2024, UnitedHealth fired its intake team and implemented AI technology to process insurance claims for senior citizens—resulting in the rejection of more than 90% of claims, leaving many seniors without critical medications they needed to survive. All while raking in literally billions in profit.
This is not negligence. It is a system designed to prioritize profits over human lives. So beyond civil lawsuits—when do the criminal trials begin?
The Path Forward: Elect People Who Answer to People
Despite how divided our nation seems at times, the American people are not confused about the need for universal healthcare. One, because the 100,000 annual preventable deaths do not account for the tens of millions more who suffer in agony, receiving just enough care not to die, but not enough to regain health. Red or Blue, we see our families and neighbors needlessly suffering, and we reject it.
And two, because the American people have shared their verdict in public. A Pew Research Center poll shows that 90% of Democrats want universal healthcare. 59% of Republicans want universal healthcare. And 66% of Americans overall want universal healthcare.
Far from division, two-thirds of the country—across party lines—want guaranteed universal healthcare. Congress has not passed it because the the same HELL Corporations exploiting us are buying our politicians.
And I’m willing to bet most Americans have no idea how united we are in demanding universal healthcare, how much money it will save all of us, and most importantly, how many lives it will save annually.
This is where legacy and corporate media have completely failed. They’ve convinced you to be furious at Luigi Mangione for snapping and killing a CEO, but simultaneously to excuse the CEOs who happily choose policies that annually kill 100,000 people for profit, and put the lives of our children at risk for an extra buck.
The lesson once more is that corporate media will never hold HELL Corporations or bought politicians accountable. They will continue to whitewash the exploitation, downplay the systemic violence, and protect the powerful. Again, we are not helpless in response. This reality is why independent voices like Let’s Address This exists. We are funded by readers like you, accountable to no corporation, beholden to no donor, and committed to one thing: the truth. It’s why we have grown from a few hundred subscribers in 2024 to now more than 200,000 regular readers.
But independent media alone is not enough. We need to elect people who answer to working families, not HELL Corporations. I’ll share two quick and inspiring examples.
Dr. Abdul El-Sayed just won his Democratic primary for US Senate in Michigan—outspent 11 to 1, facing $60 million in outside spending, running against a coordinated anti-Muslim disinformation campaign. He won because he has never taken a dollar of corporate money, champions universal healthcare as a human right, and has spent his entire career making the case that a better system is not just possible but proven.
Peggy Flanagan, Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, likewise just won her primary for US Senate on the same universal healthcare platform—while being outspent by tens of millions.
Abdul and Peggy are two examples of the leaders who will go to Washington and fight for us—not perform for HELL Corporations.
We need more of them. Everywhere.
A Final Word
170,958 Americans have died preventable deaths in 624 days. Another 274 will die today. And another 274 tomorrow.
Some might deem it hopeless, but remember, it does not have to be this way. Every single developed nation on Earth guarantees healthcare to its residents—except the United States. Every single one of them has higher life expectancy, lower maternal mortality, lower infant mortality, and zero medical bankruptcies. The Yale study confirms what every previous study has confirmed: universal healthcare costs less and saves more lives.
Right now, Luigi Mangione is in custody. Meanwhile, the people responsible for 170,958 preventable deaths live in luxury.
If that enrages you—good. Channel it. Vote for and elect people-funded candidates who champion universal healthcare. Demand that your representatives answer for every HELL Corporation donation they have accepted. And support independent media that will never stop naming this violence for what it is.
Subscribe to Let’s Address This. Your support is how this work continues—and right now, it has never been more necessary. Corporate media is funded by the same HELL Corporations exploiting you. We are funded by you. That difference is everything.
United across politics for the human dignity we all deserve, one thing is for sure—all HELL can’t stop us now.
By popular demand, rather than a monthly subscription, you can now make a one-time contribution to support our human rights platform at any amount that fits your budget.
Qasim Rashid is a human rights attorney, author, and host of Let’s Address This—a platform dedicated to human rights, healthcare justice, and the accountability that corporate media refuses to provide. Subscribe, share, and let’s remain relentless in our mission for a more perfect Union.
Universal healthcare before bunker/ballroom‼️🇺🇸‼️🇺🇸‼️🇺🇸‼️🇺🇸‼️🇺🇸
Very valuable info, heartbreaking but true. Thank you.