The Health Insurance Empire Is Already “Striking Back”. They Want The Public To Be Afraid
Your “free speech” only goes so far. You have to be careful with what you say online
The 7 major health insurance companies combined to generate $1.4 Trillion dollars in revenue in 2022, taking home $71 Billion dollars in profit. While their reputation is collectively taking its harshest public hit ever currently, it would be unwise to believe that they could be dismantled without a fight.
Fights can take many forms. Including making an example out of any copycats that might continue the uncomfortable momentum generated by Luigi Mangione.
For legal reasons I should now explain that I’m not directly saying the health insurance industry is directly involved in this next case I’m going to reference, but would anyone be surprised if they were?
I’m sure many of you had already heard, but for those who have not, a woman in Florida has been charged after allegedly saying “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next.” while speaking on the phone with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
This too started many conversations around the country. Some stating that this is hypocrisy, others stating that the charges attached to this incident were obscene, but I think it’s important to look at this from another angle.
We’ll get to that in a moment…
First, let’s do 2 things.
Clarify exactly what happened with the case in Florida
Discuss where we go from here with this healthcare conversation
Here’s a brief overview of the case in Florida ⬇️
“Briana Boston, 42, had just had a medical claim denied and was talking on a phone call with a representative from Blue Cross Blue Shield. The Lakeland resident then allegedly said: “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next.”
The language is the same as that found written on ammunition discovered at the scene of the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson. The killing was carried out by a masked gunman, which also triggered a national outpouring on social media by Americans outraged at their treatment by their for-profit healthcare firms.
According to the arrest affidavit obtained by ABC news when Lakeland police confronted Boston, she apologized and said that she “used those words because it’s what is in the news right now”.
Boston told police she did not own any guns and is not a threat. But she did say that healthcare companies “deserve karma” and were “evil” according to the document reported by ABC.
Boston was charged with threats to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism.
If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison”
This section ⬆️ was directly pulled from an article by The Guardian
We talked about the murder of the UnitedHealth CEO in our last piece & basically everyone in America now knows who Luigi Mangione is. This story has penetrated the American zeitgeist in a way that I don’t think any story has since the beginning of the pandemic. Every corner of the United States is now having a conversation about the American healthcare industry & it’s largely focused on the anger that many people feel towards the system.
It’s radicalizing people in ways I couldn’t have imagined. For instance, I just came across this comment on YouTube while I was watching a video.
Libertarians are now finding themselves being in favor of their taxes going to “big government”…yeah, things are definitely starting to change.
While I’ve seen disagreements about whether or not violence is acceptable, whether Luigi Mangione is hero, or whether universal healthcare will lead to a better system in America (I personally believe it will), there’s been no debate that our current system is universally despised.
As I said previously, this presents us with a unique opportunity to push for real change in America.
I think it’s inspiring seeing so many people come together to denounce this current toxic system. I also appreciate the courage that many have shown in sharing their stories online.
I came across this one earlier today & it absolutely filled me with rage
A system like this should have never existed in the first place, but it does. Now we have to move towards something different. Something that isn’t centered around profit.
Your well being shouldn’t be subjected to profit.
Your shouldn’t have to worry about your family’s well being because of profit.
Life should not be subjected to profit.
Where we go from here can take many forms, but in the immediate sense, I think it needs to have a heavy focus on one thing…
All of us coming together and demanding an end to for-profit healthcare.
As time goes on, you shouldn’t be surprised to see pushback about altering the current healthcare system from the corporate media (we’ll get back to them in a moment). When you see/hear this pushback, please remember this map below ⬇️
Universal healthcare isn’t a complicated Goliath that cannot be tackled. It’s a standard for basically every wealthy nation on the planet…except for us. The healthcare propaganda machine has spent many years & millions (if not billions) of dollars fear mongering the public into believing that if we transition to this model, our entire healthcare apparatus will collapse.
If you’ve ever watched any cable news network, you’ll see the endless bombardment of health insurance or health related commercials. It should come as no surprise then to see so much pro-health insurance coverage on these networks. They directly profit off the continued existence of this industry.
The reality is, the only thing that would collapse is the fraudulent health insurance industry itself, which should have never existed in the first place.
I hope by now I’ve made it clear where I stand on this issue, but let’s return to where we started with this discussion, the charges brought against Briana Boston.
I, like many, we very caught off guard when the news of this story broke, but honestly we should not have been.
While I won’t say this is definitely happening, it would not surprise me in the least, if there was monied interests that got involved with this case. What I mean is - don’t be surprised if corporations decided to find ways to pressure law enforcement to be heavy-handed in these instances.
The health insurance industry has a lot of money, power & influence in America. It’s an industry on fragile footing right now & I wouldn’t put it past them to find any legal way possible to get involved in cases like this to flex their power. Doing so, with the shear aim to dissuade other potential Luigi Mangione copycats.
I bring this up, because there’s an important parallel here. While not everyone gets on a phone and talks directly to insurance companies, most of us are online and sharing our feelings in many places on social media.
Recently I’ve seen many people take to Instagram, Tik Tok, Threads, X etc, and say things that either promote violence or promote worse.
Again, I understand where these feelings come from & why many feel this way, but I have to be clear when I say this.
Everything you say online is monitored by our intelligence agencies.
Everything.
So, while people are doing their best to process their feelings & sharing what they think the future should bring, please try to keep that in mind. Especially, since an even more corporate friendly government is about to take power in January.
An administration, that would have no problem bending norms so people could be charged for their speech.
That’s why I thought this particular story was so important to discuss. It’s bigger than just Briana Boston’s charges, it’s a larger discussion about how speech might be policed going forward to protect corporate power.
Don’t think for a second, that someone like Donald Trump wouldn’t bend the levels of power to persecute those who might threaten his billionaire friends.
The healthcare conversation must absolutely continue, but please be careful with HOW you have that conversation online.
Remember, nothing you post online is private.
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