• Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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    1 day ago

    This claims to be his story. I haven’t verified it, but I have no reason not to believe it. Basically, UHC tortured his mother for years through denial of care, then they did the same to him.

    I would note that he is 26 years old: He likely just aged out of his parents’ health insurance policy, and I would guess that he can’t get decent coverage on his own due to his pre-existing condition.

    Edit: This has since been described as impersonation. While there is certainly a truth to it, it is not the truth.

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
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      9 days ago

      Because of the ACA (Obamacare) requirements, he can’t be refused or charged more for coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

      Whether that insurance denies claims for treatment, however, is still very much in play. I’ve heard you should ask the names and certification of the person or people responsible for the denial of your claim, in writing. Because a lot of the time it’s an algorithm or an unqualified peon, and the company can get in trouble for that.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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      9 days ago

      I really hope this is genuine, because whoever wrote this did an amazing job of conveying their feelings and experiences in a very short piece of literature.

      • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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        9 days ago

        This does seem very amateurish (Gladiator, Greenday, “smile through the pain”). These are emo tropes. I’d be disappointed to know it’s him.

          • aislopmukbang@sh.itjust.works
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            9 days ago

            Not necessarily but basing an idealogy in fantasy (as he talks about the emperor being god in gladiator) neglects reality. Anger and whatever sense of righteousness you subscribe to should be based firmly in reality, otherwise you’ll find you are acting on nothing but hypotheticals.

            • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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              9 days ago

              I don’t see the issue in quoting works of fiction if you think they express something you’re trying to say. People quote Shakespeare all the time to make a point but nobody cares because that’s old and accepted. No I’m not saying Gladiator is on a level with Shakespeare but there’s a weird imbalance in what you’re allowed to quote in your argument and what not. If the imagery spoke to him, why not?

              • iii@mander.xyz
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                9 days ago

                I don’t see the issue in quoting works of fiction

                Otherwise the whole of marxism would be off limits

          • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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            9 days ago

            I liked that the writer stuck with clear and simple english instead of flowering up their prose, but I just feel that using borrowed quips and popart philosophy isn’t an honest way to write. It feels more in line with a teen or a young adult trying to find their voice in the words of others (and we’ve all been there)

            • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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              9 days ago

              I still feel being “disappointed” is harsh. He’s 26 and just wanted his thoughts out. He may have been trying, maybe even subconsciously, to emulate some literary devices more or less successfully in an effort to better convey his feelings but I really don’t think the point was to write great literature.

              • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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                9 days ago

                To theirs credit, the part about watching their mother suffer was very relatable and felt extremely honest. I guess I was hoping that they would open with something like that instead of talking about their philosophy first. You’re right though, the writer is likely young and I shouldn’t expect so much.

  • S_H_K@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 days ago

    Is chilling how thenwhole internet is fed up a story of a man before his sentence. If this guy is innocent his whole life is already exposed forever just for memes and a penny. We are the big brother and we suck.

    • SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works
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      9 days ago

      The “we did it reddit!” phrase comes from redditors trying to track down suspects of the boston bombing. Redditors found a guy they strongly suspected, then found personal info on them and began harrassing him and family, including death threats.

      It was the wrong person.

      Imagine being that person accused! One day just living life, the next experiencing a horrible bombing, the next being tracked down by a misguided internet randos on a manhunt.

      This is why having some basic privacy is important before you need it

      • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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        9 days ago

        it wasnt the internet that exposed him to the media, it was the police and feds who sold him out to the media. There is no “we did it” here. “They” did it.

      • KubeRoot@discuss.tchncs.de
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        9 days ago

        I’m sorry, but just one detail from what I’m seeing on the linked article - “that person” committed suicide a month before any of that went down. I don’t think it invalidates the point, even though being alive and present to be interrogated might’ve changed things, but it comes off comical when talking about how horrible the experience must’ve been.

    • JoYo 🇺🇸@lemmy.ml
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      9 days ago

      im big skeptical of the photos and videos they’ve been circulating. everything about this investigation is sus.

  • superkret@feddit.org
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    9 days ago

    He did everything right and believed in the system.
    And then he himself, or someone close to him, got a diagnosis that ensured life-long medical debt and poverty.

  • aramis87@fedia.io
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    9 days ago

    Someone said he was in a surfing accident and needed pins/plates put in his back. His profile (https://i.imgur.com/2g1ZGBa.png) shows an X-ray of a back that’s had surgery done on it.

    He’s 26 and just come off his parents’ healthcare. [Except his family is wealthy, so I’m not sure if this one is relevant or not.]

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
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      9 days ago

      Apparently his mother was also being screwed around by UHC.

      • Jiggle_Physics@sh.itjust.works
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        9 days ago

        This, also, just because he may have had good coverage to do the surgery, stuff like that can have lifelong consequences that can need routine, expensive, medical care, for years, if not the rest of your life. Even if they are getting care, their insurance, even “good” insurance, could have denied much better therapy, for the cheaper route, which will have a major negative impact.

        It is too early to be making up our minds about this arrest, this guy, etc. However, just because your parents have money, doesn’t mean you can escape the evils of the private healthcare system.

    • VieuxQueb@lemmy.ca
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      9 days ago

      This is what he left as a last message apparently…

      The Allopathic Complex and Its Consequences luigi mangione’s last words LM Dec 09, 2024

      The second amendment means I am my own chief executive and commander in chief of my own military. I authorize my own act of self-defense in response to a hostile entity making war on me and my family. Nelson Mandela says no form of viooence can be excused. Camus says it’s all the same, whether you live or die or have a cup of coffee. MLK says violence never brings permanent peace. Gandhi says that non-violence is the mightiest power available to mankind. That’s who they tell you are heroes. That’s who our revolutionaries are. Yet is that not capitalistic? Non-violence keeps the system working at full speed ahead. What did it get us. Look in the mirror. They want us to be non-violent, so that they can grow fat off the blood they take from us. The only way out is through. Not all of us will make it. Each of us is our own chief executive. You have to decide what you will tolerate. In Gladiator 1 Maximus cuts into the military tattoo that identifies him as part of the roman legion. His friend asks “Is that the sign of your god?” As Maximus carves deeper into his own flesh, as his own blood drips down his skin, Maximus smiles and nods yes. The tattoo represents the emperor, who is god. The god emperor has made himself part of Maximus’s own flesh. The only way to destroy the emperor is to destroy himself. Maximus smiles through the pain because he knows it is worth it. These might be my last words. I don’t know when they will come for me. I will resist them at any cost. That’s why I smile through the pain.

      They diagnosed my mother with severe neuropathy when she was forty-one years old. She said it started ten years before that with burning sensations in her feet and occasional sharp stabbing pains. At first the pain would last a few moments, then fade to tingling, then numbness, then fade to nothing a few days later. The first time the pain came she ignored it. Then it came a couple times a year and she ignored it. Then every couple months. Then a couple times a month. Then a couple times a week. At that point by the time the tingling faded to numbness, the pain would start, and the discomfort was constant. At that point even going from the couch to the kitchen to make her own lunch became a major endeavor She started with ibuprofen, until the stomach aches and acid reflux made her switch to acetaminophen. Then the headaches and barely sleeping made her switch back to ibuprofen. The first doctor said it was psychosomatic. Nothing was wrong. She needed to relax, destress, sleep more. The second doctor said it was a compressed nerve in her spine. She needed back surgery. It would cost $180,000. Recovery would be six months minimum before walking again. Twelve months for full potential recovery, and she would never lift more than ten pounds of weight again. The third doctor performed a Nerve Conduction Study, Electromyography, MRI, and blood tests. Each test cost $800 to $1200. She hit the $6000 deductible of her UnitedHealthcare plan in October. Then the doctor went on vacation, and my mother wasn’t able to resume tests until January when her deductible reset. The tests showed severe neuropathy. The $180,000 surgery would have had no effect. They prescribed opioids for the pain. At first the pain relief was worth the price of constant mental fog and constipation. She didn’t tell me about that until later. All I remember is we took a trip for the first time in years, when she drove me to Monterey to go to the aquarium. I saw an otter in real life, swimming on its back. We left at 7am and listened to Green Day on the four-hour car ride. Over time, the opioids stopped working. They made her MORE sensitive to pain, and she felt withdrawal symptoms after just two or three hours. Then gabapentin. By now the pain was so bad she couldn’t exercise, which compounded the weight gain from the slowed metabolic rate and hormonal shifts. And it barely helped the pain, and made her so fatigued she would go an entire day without getting out of bed. Then Corticosteroids. Which didn’t even work. The pain was so bad I would hear my mother wake up in the night screaming in pain. I would run into her room, asking if she’s OK. Eventually I stopped getting up. She’d yell out anguished shrieks of wordless pain or the word “fuck” stretched and distended to its limits. I’d turn over and go back to sleep. All of this while they bled us dry with follow-up appointment after follow-up appointment, specialist consultations, and more imagine scans. Each appointment was promised to be fully covered, until the insurance claims were delayed and denied. Allopathic medicine did nothing to help my mother’s suffering. Yet it is the foundation of our entire society. My mother told me that on a good day the nerve pain was like her legs were immersed in ice water. On a bad day it felt like her legs were clamped in a machine shop vice, screwed down to where the cranks stopped turning, then crushed further until her ankle bones sprintered and cracked to accommodate the tightening clamp. She had more bad days than good. My mother crawled to the bathroom on her hands and knees. I slept in the living room to create more distance from her cries in the night. I still woke up, and still went back to sleep. Back then I thought there was nothing I could do.

      The high copays made consistent treatment impossible. New treatments were denied as “not medically necessary.” Old treatments didn’t work, and still put us out for thousands of dollars. UnitedHealthcare limited specialist consultations to twice a year. Then they refused to cover advanced imaging, which the specialists required for an appointment. Prior authorizations took weeks, then months. UnitedHealthcare constantly changed their claim filing procedure. They said my mother’s doctor needed to fax his notes. Then UnitedHealthcare said they did not save faxed patient correspondence, and required a hardcopy of the doctor’s typed notes to be mailed. Then they said they never received the notes. They were unable to approve the claim until they had received and filed the notes. They promised coverage, and broke their word to my mother. With every delay, my anger surged. With every denial, I wanted to throw the doctor through the glass wall of their hospital waiting room. But it wasn’t them. It wasn’t the doctors, the receptionists, administrators, pharmacists, imaging technicians, or anyone we ever met. It was UnitedHealthcare.

      People are dying. Evil has become institutionalized. Corporations make billions of dollars off the pain, suffering, death, and anguished cries in the night of millions of Americans. We entered into an agreement for healthcare with a legally binding contract that promised care commensurate with our insurance payments and medical needs. Then UnitedHealthcare changes the rules to suit their own profits. They think they make the rules, and think that because it’s legal that no one can punish them. They think there’s no one out there who will stop them.

      Now my own chronic back pain wakes me in the night, screaming in pain. I sought out another type of healing that showed me the real antidote to what ails us. I bide my time, saving the last of my strength to strike my final blows. All extractors must be forced to swallow the bitter pain they deal out to millions.

      As our own chief executives, it’s our obligation to make our own lives better. First and foremost, we must seek to improve our own circumstances and defend ourselves. As we do so, our actions have ripple effects that can improve the lives of others. Rules exist between two individuals, in a network that covers the entire earth. Some of these rules are written down. Some of these rules emerge from natural respect between two individuals. Some of these rules are defined in physical laws, like the properties of gravity, magnetism or the potential energy stored in the chemical bonds of potassium nitrate. No single document better encapsulates the belief that all people are equal in fundamental worth and moral status and the frameworks for fostering collective well-being than the US constitution. Writing a rule down makes it into a law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. Law means nothing. What does matter is following the guidance of our own logic and what we learn from those before us to maximize our own well-being, which will then maximize the well-being of our loved ones and community. That’s where UnitedHealthcare went wrong. They violated their contract with my mother, with me, and tens of millions of other Americans. This threat to my own health, my family’s health, and the health of our country’s people requires me to respond with an act of war. END

      • aislopmukbang@sh.itjust.works
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        9 days ago

        Can people stop spreading this without verifying the source?

        I am skeptical given we have samples of his writing and that and that this has been circulated as his manifesto. Authorities have stated the manifesto is 262 words, handwritten (likely not copied digitally), and we have a quote from it stating he was working alone. This is in the area of 1500 words, reads like crap, does not include the quote, and does not account for the means of his family.

    • oatscoop@midwest.social
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      8 days ago

      Base on what I’ve read about this kid: I probably wouldn’t like him as a person. I probably wouldn’t agree with a lot of the things he believes, and I’d probably vehemently oppose a lot of it. I don’t think he’s a genius – in fact I think he’s probably a similar to the edgy, dumb kid I was at that age.

      Sometimes “good” people do bad things, and sometimes “bad” people do good things: real people aren’t one dimensional caricatures.

  • Annoyed_🦀 @monyet.cc
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    9 days ago

    Law Abiding Citizen 2 plotline. Honestly this event really remind me of that movie, all those killed is worthy of “ohh no…anyway”

  • Pandantic [they/them]@midwest.social
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    8 days ago

    People are dying. Evil has become institutionalized. Corporations make billions of dollars off the pain, suffering, death, and anguished cries in the night of millions of Americans.

    Based.

    • Frog@lemmy.ca
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      9 days ago

      Press seem sure of themselves.

      I think this guy worked with the real killer. Luigi would get caught, these idiots stops looking, killer gets away.

      Why wear the same thing and carry all the crap that can get you caught?

      Why are the bags and jackets different from the surveillance photos?

      • atro_city@fedia.io
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        9 days ago

        Yeah, why travel to Pennsylvania with a letter admitting guilt and all the 3D printed stuff with you? This guy got private education and never watched a crime series? Never learned to dump his gear or destroy the evidence? Kinda weird.

    • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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      8 days ago

      I do think it’s really him, if you look at a photo of Luigi taken from above, the resemblance is undeniable to the surveillance camera photo.

      There’s a lot of cope in this thread.

    • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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      9 days ago

      If the only evidence is from old Twitter posts, keep in mind that Musk wants him made an example of, and is not above editing the contents of anyone’s account to get his goals (which he asserts is his right, as he owns the site and everything in it)

      • FarFarAway@startrek.website
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        9 days ago

        You do have a point. At this juncture, I think, anything is possible. Really, non of it ads up. Half is fake and the other half is mystery. There is definitely still a large leap from his actions to this ideaology.