To understand why the name Luigi Mangione, belong to the man charged in the killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson, suddenly started trending on American social media you need to first understand the unbelievable complexities of American health care. Public interest in 26-year-old Mr Mangione includes news reports, TikTok videos, a lookalike competition and endless social media posts.
He became famous, or infamous, as a result of his arrest by police investigating the shooting and murder of Mr Thompson on December 4. Mr Mangione has now become one of the most polarising figures in America in ways that are inexplicable without understanding the good, bad and ugly of the healthcare industry in which Mr Thompson worked.
The good is that some of the best doctors and best health care in the world is available in the US to those who can afford it. My own American doctor in Washington used to joke that for the richest patients “death is just a health care choice.”
The bad news is that poor, middle income and even quite successful American families have limited healthcare choices. Some are bankrupted by healthcare costs, insurance payments and a complex bureaucracy including “deductibles” and other jargon.
Healthcare costs are in fact the biggest cause of personal bankruptcy in the US. The ugly is that after decades of political rows about health care and the Clinton and Obama reform plans, healthcare outcomes in the US are not outstandingly better than in other developed countries. The US spends 17 per cent of its GDP on healthcare. In Britain, the figure is around 11 per cent. Of course, British health care also has many problems.
The UK’s National Health Service is loved but not always admired. Its bureaucracy is not copied around the world. Yet as a 2010 report for the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine put it, despite the US historically spending a much greater proportion of GDP on health than the UK, “life expectancy at birth in the US is 78 years, the same as in Cuba and lower than in the UK [80 years].”
Bill Clinton was one of a number of American presidents who tried (with limited success) to end some of the more obvious problems caused by the largely private US healthcare system. One key feature is the enormous – and much disliked – healthcare insurance bureaucracy. The shooting victim, Brian Thompson, was an important leader in that bureaucracy.
Some years ago, filming a healthcare documentary in Bill Clinton’s home state of Arkansas, I was told the shocking news that in the 75 counties in Arkansas, a third – more than 20 counties – had no obstetrician-gynaecologist. Why? I was told that obstetricians and gynaecologists are doctors at high risk of being sued for millions of dollars if childbirth goes wrong.
That’s because problems in childbirth can damage two patients – mother and child – and newborns might suffer impaired health for the rest of their lives. That meant obstetricians needed to pay six figure sums every year in “malpractice insurance” to protect them from lawsuits. In less wealthy areas, such as in parts of Arkansas, an obstetrician could not make enough money from medical fees to cover those insurance costs.
Bill Clinton was one of a number of American presidents who tried to end some of the more obvious problems caused by the largely private US healthcare system
All this is context for the way the allegations against Mr Mangione have made him a bizarre hero for some Americans. Healthcare insurers are not very popular in the US since – in the view of many Americans – they represent a costly and sometimes unhelpful bureaucracy that requires great skill and effort to navigate at times when you are sick. Such is Mr Mangione’s fame that there have been funding campaigns aimed at raising money required for his defence.
His Twitter (now X) account is claiming many more verified followers than before his criminal notoriety. The communications director of one site, which enables crowdfunding, GiveSendGo, issued a statement on the case which insisted: “We do not support or condone vigilante justice. However, people have a constitutional right to a strong legal defence, and access to that defence should not be reserved only for the wealthy or those who fit a particular narrative.
"Our role is to give people and their communities the opportunity to fundraise for that defence, because true justice is served when everyone has equal access to a fair trial – regardless of the verdict.”
A group calling itself the December 4th Legal Committee is said to be behind the funding with reports putting the money raised so far at $100,000.
Wherever the police investigation now leads, Mr Thompson is the victim of a clearly abhorrent crime and the police investigation will continue. But so will the way in which this shooting reopens the question of why health care in the richest nation on earth is so divisive both in politics and in outcomes.
The Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was appalled by some of those appearing to cheer on the murder of the insurance executive. "Celebrating this conduct is abhorrent to me. It's deeply disturbing," he said. Of course that is true. Gun crime, especially murder, is a blight on American society. But so is the deeper problem of why Americans spend so much on health care with often such poor, and clearly divisive, results.
Paltan
Producer: JP Films, Zee Studios
Director: JP Dutta
Cast: Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood, Arjun Rampal, Siddhanth Kapoor, Luv Sinha and Harshvardhan Rane
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Ramy%3A%20Season%203%2C%20Episode%201
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
If you go:
The flights: Etihad, Emirates, British Airways and Virgin all fly from the UAE to London from Dh2,700 return, including taxes
The tours: The Tour for Muggles usually runs several times a day, lasts about two-and-a-half hours and costs £14 (Dh67)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is on now at the Palace Theatre. Tickets need booking significantly in advance
Entrance to the Harry Potter exhibition at the House of MinaLima is free
The hotel: The grand, 1909-built Strand Palace Hotel is in a handy location near the Theatre District and several of the key Harry Potter filming and inspiration sites. The family rooms are spacious, with sofa beds that can accommodate children, and wooden shutters that keep out the light at night. Rooms cost from £170 (Dh808).
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Match info
Manchester City 3 (Jesus 22', 50', Sterling 69')
Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 65')
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 1
Alonso (62')
Huddersfield Town 1
Depoitre (50')
MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
The%20specs
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The%20National%20selections
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Top Hundred overseas picks
London Spirit: Kieron Pollard, Riley Meredith
Welsh Fire: Adam Zampa, David Miller, Naseem Shah
Manchester Originals: Andre Russell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Sean Abbott
Northern Superchargers: Dwayne Bravo, Wahab Riaz
Oval Invincibles: Sunil Narine, Rilee Rossouw
Trent Rockets: Colin Munro
Birmingham Phoenix: Matthew Wade, Kane Richardson
Southern Brave: Quinton de Kock
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
'Midnights'
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
UAE Premiership
Results
Dubai Exiles 24-28 Jebel Ali Dragons
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 43-27 Dubai Hurricanes
Fixture
Friday, March 29, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Jebel Ali Dragons, The Sevens, Dubai
The biog
Place of birth: Kalba
Family: Mother of eight children and has 10 grandchildren
Favourite traditional dish: Al Harees, a slow cooked porridge-like dish made from boiled cracked or coarsely ground wheat mixed with meat or chicken
Favourite book: My early life by Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah
Favourite quote: By Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, “Those who have no past will have no present or future.”
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
