The Mangione Effect is Taking Shape
Some politicians seem to be listening to the people about our broken healthcare system, but will their actions be enough?
Since the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, many have elevated the suspected gunman, Luigi Mangione, to folk hero status. This has led many pundits in legacy media to admonish the population accusing the country of celebrating murder. Meanwhile, they ignore the tens of thousands who die every year at the behest of the CEOs at the biggest U.S. corporate-run health insurance institutions.
Meanwhile, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), two people who could not be further apart on many issues, are cosponsoring the Patients Before Monopolies Act (PBM Act), a bill also introduced in the U.S. House by Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) and Diana Harshbarger (R-TN). The bill would prohibit health insurers from owning pharmacies through Pharmacy Benefit Managers who act as middlemen between health insurance companies and pharmacies.
“Over the past decade, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — the middlemen between pharmacies and insurance companies — have morphed into large healthcare conglomerates that exercise control over every link in the prescription drug delivery chain,” reads a statement issued by Reps Auchincloss and Harshbarger. “Today, the largest healthcare conglomerates each own a PBM — which pays for pharmacy services — as well as the pharmacy chains that provide those services. This inherent conflict of interest results in higher drug costs for patients and fewer independent pharmacies, but bigger profits for the corporate healthcare giants.”
Currently, health insurance companies have a monopoly on our healthcare. The use of PBMs allows them to control access and pricing of prescription medications creating another profitable front for an already runaway business model. In 2017, Community Oncology Alliance, an advocacy group for community-based cancer care practices issued a report exposing how PBMs quietly operate and the damage they are doing.
“One way in which PBMs have driven up drug costs are with murky “direct and indirect remuneration” fees (DIR Fees) charged to providers who dispense drugs, such as retail and specialty pharmacies and physician-run medical practices that operate retail pharmacies or dispensing facilities (collectively, “Pharmacy Providers”),” reads the report. “DIR Fees charged by PBMs to Pharmacy Providers lack any reasonable transparency, threaten the viability of Pharmacy Providers, and, most importantly, increase the cost of drugs to Medicare and beneficiaries.”
The PBM Act seems to be garnering attention due to the widespread condemnation of the healthcare industry in response to Magione’s alleged actions. But it’s but a small step in addressing a widely corrupt sector that profits from people’s illnesses while causing suffering and death all over the country each year. While the bill is needed, it’s hardly what the country wants to provide the population with what is widely considered a human right: healthcare.
Costs for healthcare in the U.S. are exorbitant and increasing every year putting proper care out of reach for a growing number of people. As pundits and billionaires go on TV and pen op-eds decrying the seeming majority of the population for allegedly promoting vigilantism, they not only ignore how the modern Republican Party has been doing this for years with Kyle Rittenhouse, Daniel Penny, and others, but they’re also ignoring the suffering they are actively inflicting on all of us.
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” - John F. Kennedy, 1962
Vigilantism and murder may not be the answer, but when people are left with no other option, they shouldn’t be surprised when they act on them. As we have seen over the last two decades, half of this country already supports both for much lesser reasons. You only have to look at the direction conservative politics have gone to see that.
From mass murder for dubious grievances and an insurrection over refusing to accept a loss in an election to murdering protesters because they disagree with their message and murdering someone on a subway for being loud and awkward, let’s not pretend this isn’t the country we live in. This is who we have always been. None of this is new.
Wealthy elites don't like being the targets of the population's ire. This, like many other issues ailing this country, is a class issue that has garnered the attention of everyone across political, racial, and ethnic lines. Class consciousness scares the hell out of them and it should. Because unity brings change and hurts their profits. Their unfettered greed is now the focus.
Maybe it’s just me, but listening to the people seems to be in their best interests.
READ: Patients Before Monopolies Act
READ: Community Oncology Alliance Report
I’m a freelance journalist. Find my work at Latino Rebels, Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber or donate on Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp
The Mangione Effect has indeed taken shape and it's not going anywhere anytime soon, no matter how much they try to silence us. Another GREAT article.
Clear, concise, and precise ... I love your style Arturo! ❤️