NEW YORK – Police said the lone gunman who killed Minnesota insurance executive Brian Thompson on a Midtown Manhattan street took off on an electric bike into Central Park and disappeared. Surveillance showed a hooded man with a gun equipped with silencer. He was in a hoody and in some video was masked. On the street, police said, they found three shell casings. The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were written on the casings. The words suggest a link to a growing movement against the giant insurance industry. The movement has picked up traction since a 2010 book by legal scholar Jay Feinman — “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.” Feinman calls for consumers and lawmakers to fight back.
Surveillance images. The shooter from different cameras.
Book with a cause, By retired Rutgers law professor.
UnitedHealthcare profile
UnitedHealth Group, headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka, is the nation’s largest health insurer. The company has a market value of $474 billion. Its revenue is the ninth largest globally. It sells insurance products as UnitedHealthcare and healthcare services under the Optum brand name. Optum once had a major operation in LaCrosse. The company began in 1974 by processing claims for doctors with Hennepin County Medical Society. Growth was through aggressive acquisitions. Its U.S. revenue is $372 billion. Employees: 440, 000. The company regularly is in the crosshairs of federal and state regulators. It donates as much as $4.7 million a year to political candidates and groups. In Washington alone it has nine different lobbying firms on contract.
Brian Thompson profile
Brian Thompson graduated from the University of Iowa in 1997 in business and accounting. He worked six years at the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Thompson joined UnitedHealth Group in 2004 to lead the company’s government programs, including Medicare. He later became director of corporate development. In 2021 at age 47 he was named chief executive of the whole operation. His base salary is $1 million. With bonuses and stock options his compensation package totals $10.2 million. On Thompson’s watch UnitedHealtcare became notable for an unusually high rate of denying policyholder claims. Even so he maintained a generally low profile. Two sons attended a public high school in the north Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth. He regularly attended athletic and school events.