Democrats Excuse Violence Against Healthcare Executives (Again)

Violence against America’s executives keeps escalating. On February 21, a gunman shot up the home of State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation CEO Chip Terhune in Lake Oswego, near Portland. Reported Fox News, “The shots were fired at close range by someone possibly wearing a hoodie or ski mask and carrying a light-colored object.”

His family could have also been injured or even killed. As of now, no suspect has been identified.

The attack occurred as America continues to mourn UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was murdered last December 4 in New York City. “It was a life lived to the fullest,” said the company’s CEO, Andrew Witty. “And a life that helped make a profoundly positive impact on the lives of so many people.” However, some on the Left disagree.

Alleged killer Luigi Mangione, who has pleaded not guilty, made his first court appearance since his arraignment on February 21. Outside the courthouse, deranged supporters chanted, “We, the people, want Luigi free.”

Immediately after the killing, “Wanted” signs appeared in Manhattan featuring other corporate executives. An NYPD bulletin cautioned that “some online users across social media platforms reacted positively to the killing, encouraged future targeting of similar executives, and shared conspiracy theories regarding the shooting.” Such disregard for life and free discussion is what led to the Oregon attack and potentially others.

Unfortunately, some leading public discussions on health care and corporate policies have unconditionally failed to condemn such attacks. While they profess support for nonviolence, they often equivocate.

“Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told the Huffington Post in an interview. But what happens if they’re “pushed too far” and start killing? She further exacerbated, “The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) described Thompson’s murder as “outrageous” and “unacceptable.” Then the self-proclaimed socialist equivocated, “I think what the outpouring of anger at the health care industry tells us is that millions of people understand that health care is a human right and that you cannot have people in the insurance industry rejecting needed health care for people while they make billions of dollars in profit.”

On March 4, John Stossel posted a YouTube interview with Swedish economist Sven Larson, who now lives in Kansas, discussing Bernie Sanders’ cliché for decades that healthcare is a “right.” Larson commented, “You get the right to free health care, but whether you actually get the healthcare or not is a different story.” He added, “I have friends who have died in the Swedish health care system because they couldn’t get treatment in time.”

Wendell Potter, a former vice president for corporate communications at Cigna Corp., took a similarly appalling stance to that of Warren and Sanders in an op-ed for the New York Times. While lamenting Thompson’s “tragic assassination,” Potter used that as a tree on which to hang his position.

He stated he resigned while assisting in the planning of a financial meeting “similar to the one that UnitedHealthcare canceled after Mr. Thompson’s horrific killing.” This revealed an “uncomfortable truth… that shareholders, not patient outcomes, tend to drive decisions at for-profit health insurance companies.”

If companies lose money, they go bankrupt. If the health insurance industry can’t turn a profit, the only alternative is a rationing system like those in Sweden or Canada, which means a “right” to long wait times even for routine care. Potter is taking his disgruntled former employee attitude too far.

In a rebuttal letter to the Times, Michael Keyes, an executive with 20 years in the health care industry, branded Potter’s op-ed “a misleading cheap shot” targeting a sector that “cares for hundreds of millions of Americans while navigating an exceptionally complex system.”

If Warren, Sanders, and Potter disagree with the current U.S. health care policy, fine. This is a democracy. State your case. However, taking advantage of a terrorist act as an excuse to advance a policy agenda is beyond the pale and ought to be unequivocally condemned.

Such outrages must cease, or this country will descend into Venezuelan-style anarchy, taking our economy down with it.

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Haley Kennington (@LadyKennington) is a conservative commentator who served as the Research Director & Story Editor for “2020:The Plot Against the President” and Research/Archive Editor for “What Is a Woman?“

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.