High-profile killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York

This story + new episode of the Jackal. Top notch Thursday.
 
dumbo said:
Very interesting to see (from an admittedly cursory look) the complete lack of sympathy for the CEO online from even people on the 'right' or MAGA. and it seems there were even Republicans that set themselves against the company the CEO was linked to. Needless to say anyone who has had problems dealing with health insurance are dancing up a jig on the grave.

I of course have no opinion on the matter.
Click to expand...
Because it is a white guy. Wait until he is identified and happens to be a registered Dem.
 
Acrobat7 said:
Because it is a white guy. Wait until he is identified and happens to be a registered Dem.
Click to expand...
It has nothing to do with that. For these people it's clearly what he represents and the decisions he's made at that level which have directly or indirectly caused financial ruin or deaths. It's likely someone in that position would be a white male, but that's not why there's a lack of sympathy.
 
Solius said:
It has nothing to do with that. For these people it's clearly what he represents and the decisions he's made at that level which have directly or indirectly caused financial ruin or deaths. It's likely someone in that position would be a white male, but that's not why there's a lack of sympathy.
Click to expand...
You don't think the reaction in the MAGA crowd in the US would be different if the shooter was black?
 
Raven said:
I was just a little confused with the wording.
Click to expand...

The system creates a situation where spending runs madly out of control and relies on corporations trying to preserve their profit margins to be the only check or control. Which, in turn, ends up with corporations behaving unethically to keep their shareholders happy. Applying an unregulated free market to healthcare is an awful idea.
 
That_Bloke said:
What about Hitman?
Click to expand...
It always ruins my suspension of disbelief that the supposed elite assassin, a master of disguise, is a humongous bald man with a fecking barcode on the back of his head. He must be the dream of police sketch artists everywhere.
 
Acrobat7 said:
You don't think the reaction in the MAGA crowd in the US would be different if the shooter was black?
Click to expand...
I have no idea what their warped minds are angry at from one moment to the next tbh.
 
Acrobat7 said:
You don't think the reaction in the MAGA crowd in the US would be different if the shooter was black?
Click to expand...

I think that a vocal subset of both crowds would act differently but the general opinion would be the same.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The system creates a situation where spending runs madly out of control and relies on corporations trying to preserve their profit margins to be the only check or control. Which, in turn, ends up with corporations behaving unethically to keep their shareholders happy. Applying an unregulated free market to healthcare is an awful idea.
Click to expand...
An awful - highly profitable - idea.

Which is why I'm surprised more people like Brian Thompson haven't been assassinated in a country flooded with weaponry.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The system creates a situation where spending runs madly out of control and relies on corporations trying to preserve their profit margins to be the only check or control. Which, in turn, ends up with corporations behaving unethically to keep their shareholders happy. Applying an unregulated free market to healthcare is an awful idea.
Click to expand...
Just checked and UH profit had been growing massively, this year it slowed but the figure was still 90B. Unregulated free market is a bad idea in general but especially in areas of societal need, such as healthcare but also housing, utilities, etc.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The system creates a situation where spending runs madly out of control and relies on corporations trying to preserve their profit margins to be the only check or control. Which, in turn, ends up with corporations behaving unethically to keep their shareholders happy. Applying an unregulated free market to healthcare is an awful idea.
Click to expand...

A small correction they aren't trying to preserve their profit margins, insurances make a ton of money and try to increase those margins immensely, at the expense of people's lives and livelihood.
 
africanspur said:
In fairness , it’s all relative. My American colleagues earn significantly more than we do in Europe and I know a few who make over a million a year. This is essentially unthinkable in Europe, for almost anyone.

Still, American salaries at the higher end are generally much higher than in Europe anyway. And American doctors still often seem to be paid less than their highly trained equivalents in law , finance and tech etc. In my experience anyway.

United seems….particularly bad, even for an insurance company.
Click to expand...
I can appreciate that, again we do have higher cost of living, massive student loans, patients and lawyers jumping at a lawsuit, etc so after all said and done Im not sure who would have better quality of life between the American and European doctors.
Pogue Mahone said:
I can well believe that. Although doctors in most European countries get squeezed just as hard without the same remuneration. To be clear, I don’t think this is a better situation. In the grand scheme of people who are paid too much money doctors are a very long way down the list. Even in America.
Click to expand...
people who are paid crazy amount of money tends to be highly skilled surgeons and those who work closely with big pharmas anyway
 
Steven7290 said:
I can appreciate that, again we do have higher cost of living, massive student loans, patients and lawyers jumping at a lawsuit, etc so after all said and done Im not sure who would have better quality of life between the American and European doctors.

people who are paid crazy amount of money tends to be highly skilled surgeons and those who work closely with big pharmas anyway
Click to expand...
Surgeons rarely work with big pharma companies. Most of them don't ever prescribe anything.

You are thinking of specialists. Cardiology, urology, dermatology, and gastroenterology tend to be the most lucrative non-surgeon doctor specialties.
 
Pexbo said:
I saw on Reddit a while ago in one of those “what do the movies get wrong” type of threads that compressor/silencers have nothing to do with stealth in the real world as it’s still an easily audible and easily recognisable gun shot sound.

Their predominant use case is to protect the ears of the person dispensing the shot.
Click to expand...
a suppressor is only good if using a .22 which Israel used the famous Beretta to kill a few people in Europe in the 70's-80's, any other gauge like 9mm will lower to sound but not that much and in this case he probably reloaded the ammo himself with less gunpowder (less speed less sound) which didn't ejected because the suppressor.
 
Last edited:
DarkLord1984 said:
Can confirm. I fired a .223 calibre hunting rifle with a very large suppressor, and it was still loud as feck, even with earmuffs on.

The whole Hollywood idea of suppressors turning a rifle shot into a soft little 'clunk' is bullshit.
Click to expand...
then we have idiots as politicians who believe that and banned in some states the use of suppressors, the same ones who banned in New jersey (northeast, a few more states on the same situation) a device used to kill a shark in case we attacked when we spearfish...and the reason: we would use in the fish (the device uses a shotgun shell or a bullet and shooting that in a speargun would be too slow for the fish)
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The system creates a situation where spending runs madly out of control and relies on corporations trying to preserve their profit margins to be the only check or control. Which, in turn, ends up with corporations behaving unethically to keep their shareholders happy. Applying an unregulated free market to healthcare is an awful idea.
Click to expand...

The Swiss model is a happy medium. Private healthcare is mandatory for all citizens and in return providers have to offer a basic level of cover for a set price. If you want to pay extra for a luxury private room with a view, you pay the going rate. When my wife gave birth one of the options was a 3 bedroom suite with balcony, space for the help and a jewellery store in reception.

It's often seen as expensive but that's down to Switzerland being an insanely expensive place. Relative to the cost of other things it's not all that different.

The US could easily implement a similar model if they had the political will. Obamacare was halfway there.
 
11101 said:
The Swiss model is a happy medium. Private healthcare is mandatory for all citizens and in return providers have to offer a basic level of cover for a set price. If you want to pay extra for a luxury private room with a view, you pay the going rate. When my wife gave birth one of the options was a 3 bedroom suite with balcony, space for the help and a jewellery store in reception.

It's often seen as expensive but that's down to Switzerland being an insanely expensive place. Relative to the cost of other things it's not all that different.

The US could easily implement a similar model if they had the political will. Obamacare was halfway there.
Click to expand...

It's similar in France.
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
Surgeons rarely work with big pharma companies. Most of them don't ever prescribe anything.

You are thinking of specialists. Cardiology, urology, dermatology, and gastroenterology tend to be the most lucrative non-surgeon doctor specialties.
Click to expand...
He said 'and'.
 
Detectives believe the gunman is not a professional killer, sources said. Bullet casings found at the scene had the words "deny," "defend" and "depose" written on them, police sources said.
Click to expand...

The hell, is this guy Lidl version of Jason Bourne
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It’s the system that’s the problem. Anaesthetists having a stop watch running and billing by the minute for each operation is insane. Everything about the American healthcare system is bonkers. The costs of doing even the most routine stuff is off the charts. So insurance companies inevitably try to find ways to keep costs down.

I don’t think people who live in countries where you get free healthcare appreciate what an amazing service they’re getting. The alternative is horrendous.
Click to expand...
Surely the people at the very top of this system, who benefit immensely from it, are also part of the problem. It's not like the system is immutable. It's just not in their interests to change it.
 
Mogget said:
Surely the people at the very top of this system, who benefit immensely from it, are also part of the problem. It's not like the system is immutable. It's just not in their interests to change it.
Click to expand...

Insurances company lobby and bribe politicians to make sure that the system works the way it does. They are the system's designers.
 
Pexbo said:
I saw on Reddit a while ago in one of those “what do the movies get wrong” type of threads that compressor/silencers have nothing to do with stealth in the real world as it’s still an easily audible and easily recognisable gun shot sound.

Their predominant use case is to protect the ears of the person dispensing the shot.
Click to expand...
Generally yes but there is one single shot "veterinary" pistol that is stunningly quiet.

 
Last edited:
11101 said:
The Swiss model is a happy medium. Private healthcare is mandatory for all citizens and in return providers have to offer a basic level of cover for a set price. If you want to pay extra for a luxury private room with a view, you pay the going rate. When my wife gave birth one of the options was a 3 bedroom suite with balcony, space for the help and a jewellery store in reception.

It's often seen as expensive but that's down to Switzerland being an insanely expensive place. Relative to the cost of other things it's not all that different.

The US could easily implement a similar model if they had the political will. Obamacare was halfway there.
Click to expand...

I'd say the Australian model is a much better example of a happy medium. Healthy public-private mix with a single payer and excellent public health facilities where eligible patients get treated free of charge. It's similar to Switzerland in that everyone has to pay to fund the service (albeit by payments made to the state, rather than private companies) but doesn't come at an eye watering cost, to the government or anyone else.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Yeah physicians in America make insane amount of money. They rinse the system for all it’s worth. As you would.

Mind you, something else we don’t appreciate here is how little we get away with paying our medical staff. When people who design software routinely earn more than people who save lives every day then your economy has issues. There has to be a happy medium.
Click to expand...

How much would your average local GP br on?

My own GP used to get us to pay cash for a visit and he'd stick it in his top pocket
 
McGrathsipan said:
How much would your average local GP br on?

My own GP used to get us to pay cash for a visit and he'd stick it in his top pocket
Click to expand...

A good GP could earn close to 100k.

So significantly less than the likes of programmers at the various tech companies in Dublin. For a job where they often have to work antisocial hours and are constantly at risk of being sued.
 
11101 said:
They pay for what they get, probably the best healthcare system in the world.

They also have exorbitant costs for everything. This is a country where lunch at Starbucks will cost you 50 quid.
Click to expand...

Yes, which is why it is striking that their healthcare spending is high as a %age of GDP too.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
A good GP could earn close to 100k.

So significantly less than the likes of programmers at the various tech companies in Dublin. For a job where they often have to work antisocial hours and are constantly at risk of being sued.
Click to expand...
That's what they get for being know it alls.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
A good GP could earn close to 100k.

So significantly less than the likes of programmers at the various tech companies in Dublin. For a job where they often have to work antisocial hours and are constantly at risk of being sued.
Click to expand...
Developers where I work all earn 150k++
Some of the biggest tickets heads I've ever met
 
TheMagicFoolBus said:
Surgeons rarely work with big pharma companies. Most of them don't ever prescribe anything.

You are thinking of specialists. Cardiology, urology, dermatology, and gastroenterology tend to be the most lucrative non-surgeon doctor specialties.
Click to expand...
Thats what Im saying, highly skilled surgeons and those who work closely with them, doesnt matter the specialty.
Also, surgeons do work with some suppliers for surgical parts ala surgical tools, prosthetic, stent, pacemaker, etc. Its not nothing either.
 
JPRouve said:
A small correction they aren't trying to preserve their profit margins, insurances make a ton of money and try to increase those margins immensely, at the expense of people's lives and livelihood.
Click to expand...
Exactly this.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
A good GP could earn close to 100k.

So significantly less than the likes of programmers at the various tech companies in Dublin. For a job where they often have to work antisocial hours and are constantly at risk of being sued.
Click to expand...
Where are you finding GPs working unsocial hours? Most of them are 9-5, Monday-Friday right?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.