On Wednesday morning, Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Health’s insurance unit was shot and killed outside a Manhattan hotel, where he was attending the annual investor conference. The lone suspect fled and is still at large.

It does not appear to have been a random attack:

A message left at the scene of a health insurance executive’s fatal shooting — “deny,” “defend” and “depose” — echoes a phrase commonly used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims.

The three words were written on the ammunition a masked gunman used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday. They’re similar to the phrase “delay, deny, defend” — the way some attorneys describe how insurers deny services and payment, and the title of a 2010 book that was highly critical of the industry.

Tom Murphy, Associated Press, December 5, 2024

What happened later was quite unusual: Many rejoiced in his death.

Taylor Lorenz noted at her Substack, UserMag, yesterday, “Within seconds of the news breaking, people online began celebrating. A Facebook post by UnitedHealthcare about the CEO’s passing was met with over 23,000 laughing emojis before it was taken down. ‘Health insurance companies are parasites siphoning blood money from the sick, dying and injured,’ one user posted. ‘I’m only surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.’”

Similarly, at BlueSky, Yolonda a professor of health care ethics at Saint Louis University posted “So, while I’m not rejoicing about the UHC CEO being shot dead in the street, I’m not sad about it, either. People deserve better than the US health insurance industry, and chickens come home to roost. 7/7”

Why this joyful response?

Much of the rejoicing centred on claims that the company was using an AI algorithm to deny sick benefits to policyholders:

Last November, the estates of two former UHC patients filed suit in Minnesota alleging that the insurer used an AI algorithm to deny and override claims to elderly patients that had been approved by their doctors.

The algorithm in question, known as nH Predict, allegedly had a 90 percent error rate — and according to the families of the two deceased men who filed the suit, UHC knew it.

Noor Al-Sibai, “Murdered Insurance CEO Had Deployed an AI to Automatically Deny Benefits for Sick People,” Futurism, December 5, 2024

From Maureen Tkacik at The American Prospect: “Only about 50 million customers of America’s reigning medical monopoly might have a motive to exact revenge upon the UnitedHealthcare CEO.”

It sounds like a serious inquiry is needed. The solution, whatever it is, is not private justice.