Is Luigi Mangione really a “Hero”?

Investigating roots of Mangione’s popularity

On the morning of December 4th, Brian Thompson, the United Healthcare CEO, was fatally shot by Luigi Mangione in Midtown NYC. After a days-long manhunt, Luigi Mangione was arrested in Pennsylvania with a charge of first-degree murder and terrorism. Surprisingly, Luigi Mangione’s case ignited a rally of support amidst the shame of murder. Although the case reflected many defects of the American healthcare system, violence should never be condoned as a means of change, despite Luigi Mangione’s grounded address against the lack of access to the American healthcare system.

Despite the definitive immorality of murder, the message was striking enough to receive overwhelming support. During his arrest, Luigi Mangione was found with a handwritten manifesto that condemned the American healthcare system. The carrying of a manifesto reminded the public of his deep desire for change. The first few lines began with “a reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy.” Later, he goes on to describe the “corruption and greed” of the insurance companies. 

In his record, Mangione claimed that historically, the “delay, deny, defend” attitude of the Insurance Company led to general healthcare mistreatments and overcharges, sprouting into the suffering of those who can’t simply afford it. In other words, he criticized strategies that insurance companies have been employing, an attitude that was centered around maximizing their profits at the expense of claimants. 

Ironically, Luigi Mangione himself enjoyed a life of affluence. He graduated from a prestigious private school (Gilman School in Baltimore) and received a computer science degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020. His perceived distance from the primary protesters against the healthcare system makes this case even more surprising. Now the question arises: how does an upper-class, Ivy-league graduate's message resonate with the victims of healthcare?

According to an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report in 2022, U.S. healthcare spending per capita is almost twice the average of other wealthy countries. Even with this spending, the insurance companies’ medicare advantage denial rate reached 15.7%, according to the American Hospital Association. In reference to the official United States Government census, with 27.5 million Americans living without health insurance, around 130 million Americans have medical debt. Thus, the cost of healthcare is considered as one of the leading causes of bankruptcy, and affording insurance itself stands as a burden within the lower-middle class population. Of course, it is worth noting to investigate the underlying reasons for such denials, yet it is safe to assume that Luigi Mangione’s message resonated with the population who had previously raised a voice for change in the healthcare system. 

Despite the impact of the message, the majority of the media and general public appear to stand against the action of murder, stemming from moral absolutism. The cold-hearted parting of Brian Thompson’s family is cruel and striking enough to build empathy in the case. Furthermore, murder was simply unlawful and immoral in the face of moral principles and United States jurisdiction. Thus, the murder of Brian Thompson should not be tolerated, yet it is important to note the motivation of Luigi Mangione and his decision to commit such an extreme act of retaliation.

In essence, Mangione’s murder set off alarms on moral decadence and epitomized a fatal threat in the pursuit of socio-political interest. Luigi Mangione’s murder and its resonance with his supporters suggest to the public an urgency for change. Mangione’s crime should be penalized under law and moral principles, yet it is important to forge a solution, such as finding a middle ground between centralized and privatized healthcare systems, to bring betterment to the people of the United States.

Matthew Yoon