A banner hanging from an overpass in the southbound lanes of Interstate 83 read “Deny to Defend Health Care 4 All.”
Lloyd Fox | The Baltimore Sun | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
Major insurance stocks have fallen more than 6% since last Tuesday’s closing price. fatal shot Brian Thompson CEO UnitedHealth GroupInsurance department located in downtown Manhattan.
These include UnitedHealth, CVS Health and Cignawhich operates three of the largest private health insurance companies in the United States. Thompson, 50, leads UnitedHealthcare, the largest private health insurance benefit payer in the United States.
Luigi Mangione26 years old, charged fatal shot Thompson was outside the Hilton Hotel in downtown Manhattan early last Wednesday as the CEO headed to UnitedHealth Group’s investor day. Investigators say Mangione is a critic of the health care industry Some Americans express sympathy for the Internet in the days following Thompson’s death.
The companies’ stock performance appears to be in response to “new rhetoric” denouncing insurance companies’ business models in which they “end up with incredible gains at different times of the year at the expense of some patients.” profit,” said Jared Holz of Mizuho Health. Gugu strategists said in an interview.
He noted that this is not a new theme in the industry, which many Americans blame for their rising medical costs.
“I think the response from investors is, ‘If there’s a renewed negative focus on the industry now, do we want to own these types of stocks?'” Holtz said.
Similar to other large insurance companies, UnitedHealthcare has faced lawsuits and criticism from regulators, lawmakers and patients alike for allegedly denying its profit-maximizing claims. Americans criticize insurance companies for refusing to cover services or treatments, unexpected bills, large out-of-pocket costs and the complexity of coverage.
Holtz said that despite growing backlash against the industry since the shootings, the negative reaction to stocks could end up being “fairly short-lived.” He added that he did not expect insurance companies to make major changes to their policies as a result of the killing.
“Do I think the company will do anything proactively different based on this? No,” Holz said.
Luigi Mangione booking photos in Huntingdon, PA.
Source: Pennsylvania Department of Corrections
New York prosecutors charged Mangione with second-degree murder, unlawful possession of a loaded firearm and other crimes Monday night, hours after his arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The New York charges come after Mangione made his first court appearance in Pennsylvania on gun and forgery charges.
Mangione, a private school valedictorian and Ivy League graduate from an influential Maryland family, was being held without bail after a trial late Monday night.
At a court hearing Tuesday afternoon, Mangione refused to waive his right to challenge his extradition to New York City. The judge denied Mangione bail and temporarily sent him back to a Pennsylvania prison.
Law enforcement officials told NBC News that Mangione was arrested with a handwritten page criticizing the U.S. health care industry and specifically targeting UnitedHealthcare.
“I do apologize for any conflict or trauma, but it has to be done. Frankly, these parasites are asking for it,” Mangione wrote, according to NBC.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told NBC’s “TODAY” on Tuesday that authorities were still investigating the motive for the shooting and that the findings would be “as the investigation continues to unfold in the coming weeks and months.” Will be revealed. But she noted that Mangione’s note had an “anti-corporatist sentiment that touches on many issues in the health care industry.”
