The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has revealed a simmering anger with the American healthcare system in the spotlight. William Brangham discussed more with Wendell Potter. He spent decades working for the health insurance company, Cigna, before leaving and dedicating his career to reform.
The only people who had anything revealed to them is the wealthy out of touch people, and unfortunately that makes up a lot of our politicians from both parties.
Everyone else has been pissed off about it for a long time.
I think people can still be surprised by how widespread the resentment is. Things are so polarized and there’s so much focus on dividing us into warring factions, it can be hard to believe that there’s common ground on anything. Especially when there’s so many other experiences we all shared that didn’t lead to a similar understanding.
I think we all knew we were pissed off, but we didn’t necessarily realize so many other people were too, especially people we don’t like and don’t agree with about anything else. I don’t think it’s simmering, though. I think we’re at a rolling boil.