an anonymous transmission
On December 21st, 6 Luigi’s took a couple banners to the Lamar pedestrian bridge in downtown Austin, and danced to the Mario theme song. Pedestrians, cheered, wrote letters to Luigi, and even took photos with the banners. Letters ranged from heart wrenching stories about family members being denied healthcare to love letters. Flyers calling out Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest health insurance company in Texas, were handed out. They read:
“On December 4th, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down. The bullet casings immediately explained the situation: this was an act of vengeance against UnitedHealthcare, who denies over 30% of health insurance claims.
Every year, it is estimated that over over 50,000 Americans die dye to lack of insurance. One in twelve is drowning in medical debt. One must understand that health insurance companies do not provide healthcare, they are not doctors. While we ration medications, delay appointments, and worry about bills, they rake in billions. They restrict our access to healthcare and intervene in patient treatment against the interests of the patient. We get sicker and they get richer.
This violence is buried beneath the advertisements, legalese, statistics, and complicated health insurance documents. But make no mistake: this is violence, these companies are responsible for it, and they benefit from it massively. The largest insurance company operating in Texas, Blue Cross Blue Shield, brings in over $18 billion in revenue, while denying 1 in 5 claims. Whether Thompson’s death made you feel joy or horror, the fact is that it laid this violence bare.
Now the mainstream media and the government is on a mission to obscure this situation. They tell us that working class mother Briana Boston is a terrorist for saying “Deny, Defend, Depose” on a phone call after her claims were denied. But we must remain clear headed: a small group of people is making money off our illness, and there is a solution: single payer health care. We abolish these corporations and nationalize health insurance. Single-payer healthcare works everywhere else in the developed world, where people live longer and healthier lives. Texans, by contrast, die three years yonger [sic], victims of private healthcare. The only question left is this: When will we stop waiting and take what is ours.”
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