What Does the Shooting of the United Healthcare CEO Really Mean?

So, it turns out that the kid who shot the CEO of United Healthcare may have been an alt-right nut from a wealthy background who believed that the medical ‘industry’ was putting profits ahead of public health, and may also have been upset at how a relative’s health condition got worse after his medical treatments weren’t covered by his insurance plan.

Don’t get me wrong. The fact that this crazy person posted all kinds of nonsense on his website may mean nothing since he’s hardly the only person who has used the internet to draw attention to himself with some remarkably stupid ideas.

On the other hand, the GoFundMe website has removed several fundraisers asking people to donate money to cover the shooter’s legal costs, an indication (along with numerous internet postings) that many people hold the medical industry, particularly the insurance aspect of that industry in disrepute.

The United States happens to be the only country in the entire world which bases most medical care on the ability of the patient to pay the costs of that care. In other countries which have medical-care systems (and many countries still don’t have any systematic approach to delivering medical care) the government pays doctors for their work in the same way that they the pay people who direct traffic or pave…