Health insurers grapple with UnitedHealthcare murder—and a public short on sympathy

One should not speak ill of the dead, they say, but plenty have done just that since the murder of the UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson. Online, at least, sympathy was at a premium.

Thompson’s alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, has been depicted in memes shared by millions of people as Luigi from the Super Mario games; the patron saint of healthcare; “the Adjuster”; or being endorsed by the fictional mafia character Tony Soprano saying, “In this house, he’s a hero.” People have inserted Mangione into Facebook holiday photos to provide a tongue-in-cheek alibi, some adding “I am Spartacus.” On Amazon, Mangione merchandise sold fast before being removed from the site.

Meanwhile, Thompson’s memorial Facebook page was closed after being flooded with 126 000 laughing emojis. On online forums, including those used by medical professionals, and even a Facebook page shared by health insurance workers, many comments were variations on health plan terms such as “thoughts and prior authorisations” and “after reviewing your case, sympathy was denied.”

Public anger has crossed ideological lines in a rare moment of bipartisanship. On the left leaning television programme the Daily Show the audience booed when told that Mangione had been arrested. But when the prominent right wing podcaster Ben Shapiro posted a YouTube video entitled “The EVIL revolutionary left cheers murder!” he was pilloried by his own viewers. The most liked comment read: “This man [Thompson] denied 35% of claims. One was my dead parent’s heart surgery we couldn’t afford. He opted to die instead of give us the debt.”

Do these online voices represent the real balance of feeling? A new poll by Emerson College suggests not quite—but …