Luigi Mangione, Healthcare Despair, and Class Consciousness in America

Understanding the rationality behind Mangione’s desperation in a deeply broken system

Luigi Mangione’s violent act against UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week is already being framed as the work of a deranged mind. But this interpretation risks obscuring the broader reality: a healthcare system so broken that it left a man in unrelenting pain with nowhere to turn. Mangione’s actions, while extreme, demand a deeper examination of how systemic failures in healthcare and class inequality drive people to such desperation.

I believe this moment of class consciousness is significant, though I worry that in the wake of his capture and inevitable sentencing, it will be forcibly reversed by media outlets, pundits, and politicians labeling him as “crazy.” Americans are notably hesitant to align themselves with someone labeled insane, so his mental state will likely be exaggerated to discredit his actions as the deranged work of a madman. It will very likely be suggested he was undergoing a psychotic event when he carried out the calculated murder of Brian Thompson. While unceasing pain can degrade anyone’s state of mind, at this point, such claims seem unlikely to me. Nonetheless, psychopathy will likely be posed to dismiss his actions as irrational, separating him from his humanity and rendering him undeserving of empathy in the eyes of a deeply ableist and saneist public.