The Punchline That Isn’t Funny
BlackRock will probably win this lawsuit. Or settle for millions. Either way, they’ll extract value from a system designed to extract life from patients.
They’re not just suing UnitedHealth — they’re suing the very idea that health insurance should provide health insurance. They’re fighting for their constitutional right to profit when people die and lose money when people live.
Welcome to American healthcare, where caring too much is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Dear Sweet Mother of God, this article does not hold back on the biting truth.
It’s a worthwhile read with only one small mistake contained within:
Luigi Mangione didn’t just kill a CEO
There is no reliable evidence to suggest Mr. Mangione killed anyone. And I, for one, remain convinced he did not do that deed.
Hope Mangione is found innocent and he suits the shit out off all the media companies that declared guilty without any proof.
I’m fully convinced that if it ever starts looking like he might legitimately walk, he’ll be Epstein’d. They want to keep that option for last resorts only because they understand the optics behind it, but I’m sure it’s not completely off the table.
I doubt it in this case. He’s not holding onto any secrets that he might spill. Killing him is only to their advantage if it sends a message “don’t mess with us or you’ll die”. That works if he’s convicted and executed, that doesn’t work if it’s seen as “a company will just assassinate you”. They’d have to keep the assassination a secret, which would defeat the purpose.
But he has become a symbol greater than himself.
To wit:
You can’t kill an idea
In any case, if he is not convicted and walks free then the people will know that the actual shooter was never caught and that there were no consequences for his action. The only thing they can truly do is prolong this case for as long as is necessary so that the people can never be 100% sure that they didn’t catch the actual shooter, or so they forget this all ever happened at all.
sues* of*
There is no reliable evidence to suggest Mr. Mangione killed anyone.
I’m so sick of everyone making me repeat myself with this:
Luigi was.
With me.
The morning.
Of the murder.
He physically could not have committed the crime from another location. We were setting up for our friend’s dad’s birthday party and he was busy getting the balloons ready.
Not guilty.
Can confirm, I was there too. It was an early one and we had to get him up, I remember; that guy could sleep through like fifteen alarms.
Like Brian Thompson, Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, is one of the people that Luigi Mangione didn’t kill.
Thank you for this link. Goodness, this guy is a horrible human being.
I keep coming back to this, but why do the evil twisted fucks behind evil PURE evil shit always have comedic “cartoon villain” names like fucking Fink?!
I like nominative determinism better when it’s funny.
I’m pretty sure a piano fell on that guy.
It actually doesn’t hold back on the biting lie, their source says pretty much the opposite and the lawsuit is about earnings forecasts and stock price manipulation.
It’s worth noting that this is a blog post, and not reporting from an accountable journalistic agency.
I don’t see anything obviously incorrect, but it’s worth noting the source.
Hello my American friends, as an observer from outside, it looks to me like you all need some of that “democracy” you’ve been bombing across the world for decades.
More than half of us agree with you but overcoming the inertia necessary to change our current condition of minority-majority rule is apparently going to take some kind of political (if not literal*) bomb.
*Not advocating violence, just feeling hopeless about the likelihood that we meaningfully change things at this point through anything short of an actual revolution.
It’s very difficult to use logic and try to reason with hatred. Majority of people genuinely want to settle disputes peacefully but it’s getting harder and harder to deny that’s simply not going to work against a minority of loud, angry and ignorant people cheering on a demagogue.
Historically, it has been violent unfortunately, and I don’t see that changing in this situation. Just hoping the violence is aimed at the right people soon before more innocent people die.
I agree that your entire political system needs a massive overhaul. Far too many lobby groups are spending stupid money to make money, leaving the majority of Americans voices when voting redundant. I wish you luck but I can’t see an easy way out of this for you.
🙃 weeeeee
Sounds like they’re admitting the CEO murder brought about a good change. We should do it more often 🙂
Sounds like we have a great candidate
So BR CEO next?
Technically this article cites CBS News who says the lawsuit is about stock price manipulations and earnings forecasts as well as UnitedHealth being directly responsible for higher denial rates.
So, no, the lawsuit doesn’t admit the CEO murder brought about a good change. Quite the opposite, actually.
You know what would be really funny?
I fink I do !
damn that’s cryptic
damn I suck at this. A common chaffinch perched on a twig. I got nothing 😖
Did you know? Blackrock is the corporation that all evil corporations in fiction are based off of.
me thinks 1 Luigi was not enough Luigi’s. more Luigi’s may be required.
in Mario Kart
Luigi appears to CEO in a nightmare
CEO: “Waaaaah! Luigi!!!”
Luigi: “No, just the regular one.”
Given the obesity rate in the US, we may also need a few Marios.
Technically, according to the source of the article above, BlackRock is actually suing UnitedHealth over stock price manipulation and that it’s earnings forecast did not disclose that they would be denying patients at a higher rate than competitors in order to meet its goal.
In other words, they’re suing UHC for denying too many people.
Let’s not conflate a legal rationale with a true motivation.
The premise of the lawsuit is literally the opposite of what the users here claimed was the premise of the lawsuit. If you wanted to insult Black Rock CEO and be honest you could just say he is suing them for not telling them about the denial rates and that he would have been fine if they had in fact told him.
Their true motive is to punish people who inflated the stock price with unachievable forecasts, thereby receiving monetary compensation. They couldn’t be more opaque about it if they tried.
Did you respond to the wrong person or something? I didn’t say shit about that
We were discussing how the lawsuit does or does not differ from their motivations.
Yeah the bit about “in other words” where you said the legal basis for the dispute is about a moral issue. You don’t see how that’s blatantly wrong?
I never said that, I explained very very very briefly that the source cited by this article above claims the basis for the lawsuit is that UnitedHealth made public earnings forecasts which were unachievable without artificially increasing the denial rate of claims, and they did not disclose this information to investors.
Morality has nothing to do with Black Rock’s claims. They were promised more money return on investment than was physically possible to provide.
It’s called freaking Blackrock. It’s just one step away from Mount Doom or the eye of sauron.
Will nobody rid me of this meddlesome BlackRock CEO?
I have no love for him but the lawyers are actually arguing that UHC never disclosed that they would be denying rates at higher numbers than competitors. Meaning this article, according to it’s own cited source, is lying.
Sounds like the black rock ceo needs a visit by the Mario bros.
send more blue shells
Hooray for laws that make it your legal responsibility to maximise profits for shareholders! Those are doing such amazing things for the overall public good!
/s just in case
2 of the worst companies out there fighting, get the popcorn ready
As much as people harp on blackrock and vanguard they hold a ton of people’s retirement funds.
This is a vicious thing to do of course but they are protecting a lot of people’s nest egg.
Fuck them. Oh no the insurance company is doing what it’s supposed to instead of denying everyone like they do.
Their job is to attain shareholder value, not to legislate healthcare. If you’re relying on the charity of for-profit corporations run by shareholders then you’re going to have a sad time, you need to look at who you’re voting for.
Their job is to attain shareholder value, not to legislate healthcare.
Client Profile: UnitedHealth Group
Total Lobbying Expenditures, 2025: $3,370,000
:-/ Strange to spend $3.3M in an effort to shape legislation if that’s not your job.
Whats your plan then, shame them for lobbying as well?
Once we have sufficiently shamed all corporations will we live in a utopia.
Whats your plan then
So get the government to do something. That makes more sense.
Sure but it is sorta a treating the symptom and not the disease. Blackrock is right to sue them as a shareholder but companies should not be involved in people’s health care to begin with.
Actually they’re wrong to do it
Can you explain in what way you feel Blackrock is right? Do you feel that people’s lives and healthcare are less important than share holder profits for a company that sells you the promise of covering your medical expenses because that’s what you are specifically paying them to do because they gave you a legally binding agreement to do so? How does a health insurance company insuring healthcare costs put them in the wrong? I really need a clarification here.
Oh please. That doesn’t make the math any more forgivable. Every investor made a choice. The fact that it’s an institutional investor and mutual funds doesn’t sever the provider of the money and their demand for returns from the ethical issues of what the companies are doing.
Don’t fail to hold equity investors like this to account because they’re holding grandma’s retirement hostage. That’s on grandma too.
This is a vicious thing to do
If you get into the weeds, the issue isn’t that UHC updated their coverage policies and practices. It is that they did so without notifying shareholders first.
Incidentally, one upshot of this lawsuit will be a long period of discovery during which UHC will attempt to prove it is fulfilling its fiduciary duty by showing off how many cruel and nefarious methods it uses to fuck over its clients. So, while you might shit on Blackrock for “viciously” exposing UHC’s internal practices to the light of day, I’ve gotta say that I am seeing nothing but positive outcomes as a result.
Wait. What’s the deal with vanguard? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone harp on them
I hope these people have the day they deserve
They’ll all probably get away with everything while also giving themselves more money due to Trump’s regime. They’ll all live to ripe old ages supported by profits that could’ve benefitted everyone, if they don’t cure aging for themselves before then to become absolute, not that their shitty nepo kids wouldn’t just replace them.
Who is the CEO of Blackrock?
Apparently Larry Fink runs the American Investment Firm known as BlackRock. Why do you ask? Are you going to write him a letter? In that case according to the article there’s some relevant information about where to send it
“In 2004, they bought Finch Farm in North Salem, New York from the actor Stanley Tucci for $3.7 million and have since bought seven more parcels of land there, including one from Maurice Sendak and 27 acres from the town’s deputy supervisor Peter Kamenstein in 2019 for $5.4 million.[47] They also have an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a house in Aspen, Colorado.[3]”
If you’re worried about him being on the opposite side of political issues then don’t you worry because Larry “Fink is a lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party.”
I hope that helps you with your message! Good Luck.
I somehow doubt he was a Democrat. There are articles claiming he just split campaign contributions in half.
Reminder that capitalism is a system where companies cannot afford to consistently do the right thing. Therefore Capitalism must be abolished entirely.
My greatest wish is the fall of the dollar for exactly this reason. This is the result I want. I want capitalism to collapse. Worldwide. And it will sooner or later. But I’d prefer sooner. Capitalism cannot survive. Infinite growth + finite resources = inevitable collapse. Dependence on the US Dollar is how this all got as bad as it has. We were the snake oil salesman selling capitalism to the world. With extreme prejudice where deemed necessary.
I’m 100% sure I won’t survive that crash. But if the human race is to survive. Capitalism has to end. Or at least be wrestled into submission. We can’t flee to space. We can’t farm the asteroid belt for resources. We’re a couple years from AGI. Climate change is happening live. We see it every single day. As of right now we don’t have a future. End of this century maybe. Maybe.
Good old BlackRock making the world a terrible place.
Seems that we have a very clear cause and effect pathway now, though, and blackrock has offered a solution.
Mario-san? HAAIII! Nani ga sugi? CEO no rieki yori mo anata!!
That’s a thing you can sue for?
Yes, shareholders in the US have rights to sue when their investments don’t return profits as promised.
This is one of the biggest drivers of corporate greed in the US.
And this is why Health and Justice shouldn’t be for profit
Investments are supposed to be a gamble. Imagine losing at the casino and then suing the casino because you didn’t get the advertised jackpot.
I’m pretty anti capitalist and wish the whole system would fuck off but they’re not suing because of the lack of performance of their investment, they’re alleging that United didn’t give necessary information to investors
This is unfortunately true, they’ll likely win the case on that angle.
My point is that legislation shouldn’t guarantee earnings from gambling under unforeseen circumstances. That’s just gambling.
Seriously, how many times have I heard the argument that CEOs should be making “the big bucks” because they’re taking on “the big risks”? Yet except for Brian Thompson, I can’t think of any CEOs who’ve ever actually incurred risks from their “gambles.” They always seem to make cuts to everyone and everything else before accepting a loss, or else jump ship with a golden parachute (and probably go on to fuck up a different company afterwards.) Of course, I can’t deny the possibility that CEOs who fail don’t make the news, and this is just survivorship bias (no pun intended.)
The CEOs aren’t making any risks at all, it’s the shareholders taking risks. The unfairness comes in when the government protects them from their own risk while leaving the poor out to rot.
This isn’t about a failed bet. It’s about investors not being informed of the changes.
It’s closer to having the odds and rules explained, then having the casino change both retroactively after they’ve taken your money.
That’s the problem with our entire system!
You can sue for everything. If you win is another question.
