Florida woman jailed for threatening health insurance company with ‘delay, deny, depose’

The charge is a second-degree felony, which could be punished by up to 15 years in prison if she is convicted.

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Mangione, the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson was not a customer of the health insurer, a company spokesperson said on Friday.

Ivy League-educated Mangione was charged with murder on December 9 for the killing of Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel before a company conference, following a five-day manhunt.

Mangione suffered from chronic back pain that affected his daily life, according to friends and social media posts, though it is unclear whether his personal health played a role in the shooting.

UnitedHealth does not have prior records for either Mangione or his mother, the spokesperson said.

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Thompson’s murder was met with shock across the industry, as well as an outpouring of anger from Americans struggling with healthcare costs and the complexities of US health insurance. Public officials and healthcare executives have acknowledged the frustrations, but in the last few days have been more vocal in pushing back against social media glorification of an accused killer.

In a New York Times opinion piece on Friday, UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty said he understood public frustrations with the “flawed” US healthcare system, but mourned Thompson’s killing and decried the “vitriol that has been directed at our colleagues who have been barraged by threats”.

Thompson was CEO of the company’s large health insurance business.

The New York Times reported that an internal New York City police report analysing Mangione’s writings concluded that he viewed the killing as a justified response to what he believed to be corruption in the healthcare industry.

In some circles, Mangione has been celebrated and more than a thousand donations have poured into an online fundraiser for his legal defence.

Health insurance companies have come under sharp public scrutiny since the attack. Shares of UnitedHealth alone have fallen nearly 15 per cent since the attack. “Health care is both intensely personal and very complicated, and the reasons behind coverage decisions are not well understood,” Witty wrote in his first public comments since the murder, noting that the US healthcare system is a patchwork built over decades.

“We share some of the responsibility for that. Together with employers, governments and others who pay for care, we need to improve how we explain what insurance covers and how decisions are made,” he wrote.

Insurers say they work to negotiate down high fees from doctors and hospitals, as well as costly prescription drugs and medical devices.

It isn’t clear if the recent events “represent a watershed moment” that could catalyse change in the industry, said Morningstar analyst Julie Utterback. “You can definitely feel the potential for some kind of change in the air.”