A Democratic senator railing against healthcare companies following the brutal murder of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson raked in hundreds of thousands in campaign donations from the healthcare industry, a Daily Caller News Foundation review of campaign finance data found.
Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy appeared to place Thompson’s assassination in the context of Americans’ alleged broader discontent with the healthcare system in a video published on X on Sunday. Murphy’s decision to join the left-wing chorus denouncing the healthcare industry following Thompson’s assassination comes after years of accepting campaign contributions from PACs and individuals associated with some of the nation’s top health insurance companies and hospital systems.
“What I see happening in this country, though, is a real, visceral anger that the outrage at Brian Thompson’s death, or the outrage at the death of any powerful person, isn’t matched by the anger over the thousands of people who die often anonymous deaths every single day in this country at the hands of a healthcare industry that mostly doesn’t give a sh*t about people and only cares about profits,” Murphy, clad in a gray sweatshirt and black Nike ball cap, said in the video.
I know it’s uncomfortable for political leaders to wade into the conversation that’s happening in this country in the aftermath of the murder of the United Health CEO. But we need to listen to what people are feeling. And act. pic.twitter.com/V3WwRV74Fo
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) December 15, 2024
“The business model of the healthcare industry is to deny care — necessary medical care — to people who need it and force them into bankruptcy, or worse, let them die, in order to grow profit,” Murphy added.
Individuals associated with some of the nation’s largest health insurance companies, including UnitedHealth Group and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and major hospital systems contributed at least $120,000 to Murphy’s campaign committee and leadership PAC between 2019 and 2024, according to a DCNF review of OpenSecrets data. Murphy received more than $700,000 from individuals employed in or associated with the “health” sector and more than $1.7 million in contributions from individuals affiliated with the “finance, insurance and real estate” sectors during the same time period.
The Connecticut Democrat notably swore off corporate PAC contributions during his run for a third Senate term this past electoral cycle.
UnitedHealth Group’s PAC doled out $6,000 to Murphy’s campaign in 2018 and $2500 in 2016, according to a DCNF review of OpenSecrets data. Murphy’s campaign appeared to return $2500 to the UnitedHealth Group’s PAC during the 2020 cycle.
BlueCross/Blue Shield’s PAC contributed $7,000 to Murphy’s campaign during the 2018 cycle, according to OpenSecrets data.
Individuals affiliated with hospital systems that have contributed at least $10,000 to Murphy’s campaign committee include Hartford HealthCare, Yale New-Haven Health System, Mass General Brigham and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Murphy’s office did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment if the Democratic senator believes these healthcare entities “mostly don’t give a shit about people” and value profit over human life.
“Ordinary people in this country are not indifferent to the loss of life. But these companies are,” Murphy said in the video. “There are a ton of good people in the healthcare industry — nurses, doctors — but that’s an immoral system — watching people die, ruining families financially to pad profits and make money for the people who run the biggest companies.”
“Murder is never justified. It isn’t,” Murphy added. “But if this country’s leaders don’t pay attention to the conversation that is happening right now, this weekend, that is a mistake.”
Murphy’s condemnation of the healthcare industry echoes his left-wing Senate colleagues, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who have also sought to explain Thompson’s murder within the context of Americans’ discontent with the healthcare system.
“Violence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far,” Warren said in an interview with the Huffington Post published on Dec. 10. “The visceral response from people across the country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system.”
President Trump just reacted to the people on the internet lionizing UnitedHealth CEO assassin Luigi Mangione:
“I think it’s a terrible thing. It’s really terrible some people seem to admire him… How people can like this guy is a sickness.” pic.twitter.com/u84yLefGND
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 16, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump criticized Americans glorifying the UnitedHealthCare CEO killer during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.
“I think it’s a terrible thing. It’s really terrible some people seem to admire him,” Trump said.
(Featured Image Media Credit:Screen Capture/PBS North Carolina Channel)
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