The December 4 shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York sparked a global backlash against the privatised health insurance industry’s unfettered greed.

Thompson, who previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers and reportedly earned more than US$10 million a year at United, was gunned down as he walked to the Hilton in mid-town Manhattan for a United Healthcare Group investors’ conference.

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The conference was celebrating the bloated profits of an industry whose predatory non-payment practices help make medical bills the United States’ number one cause of personal bankruptcy and a leading driver of homelessness.

Forbes Magazine reported that UnitedHealth Group, the US’ fourth-largest public company behind Walmart, Amazon and Apple, made US$22 billion in 2023.

Research shows an estimated 45,000 Americans die needlessly every year due to unaffordable health insurance.

Globally, privatisation has dehumanised healthcare and undermined democracy.

In Australia, public health is chronically underfunded, while governments pander to private health insurers, who act with almost total immunity no matter how egregious their proven harm.

It is well documented that this kind of accountability vacuum engenders community support for vigilantism........

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