Slim to none

50 year old Brian Thompson, the CEO of a major US health care insurer, was gunned down in broad daylight in front of a Manhattan hotel. After shooting Thompson point blank, the killer, who had used a firearm equipped with a silencer, then sped off on a bike into Central Park. 

This was clearly premeditated and the culprit knew where his victim would be that morning. The claim to fame of the insurer? The lowest percentage of accepted claims in the industry making a possible motive for the killing rather glaring. 

The US is the only top industrialized nation with a for profit health care system and one can imagine someone associated with the killer having succumbed to some illness whose treatment was disapproved. For some the choice is eat and house versus treat an illness properly which is an unsavory choice to be sure. One of the highest causes of personal bankruptcy in the US is for health reasons. 

No one deserves to be gunned down for any reason and yet this murder is a symptom of a bigger problem. The have-nots are becoming desperate and despondent and as a dangerous and dogmatically twisted administration takes over in January, the prospects for an improvement are slim to none.

Unfettered late-stage capitalism strikes yet again.