Luigi Mangione fundraiser organizers want to upend health care system
The organizers of a GiveSendGo fundraiser generating more than $50,000 for the legal fees of Luigi Mangione call for sweeping changes to the U.S. health care system.
Mangione, 26, is behind bars in Pennsylvania on a murder charge in the deadly shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City on December 4.
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Sam Beard, spokesperson for the December 4 Legal Committee, on Thursday told Newsweek via email that the group’s name is in reference to the day of the shooting. The group is composed of 15 volunteers from around the country and launched the fundraiser.
While a motive in the killing has yet to be determined, Mangione criticized the country’s health care system in a three-page manifesto recovered by law enforcement.
“United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but [h]as our life expectancy?” Mangione wrote.
“No the reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it.”
Beard told Newsweek that no one in the committee knows Mangione personally but supports his coming legal battles.
“To see why this fundraiser is important, simply take a look at all the other crowdfunding campaigns in the U.S. The vast majority are for medical expenses from people in desperate situations, the exact situations that insurance theoretically should protect against. It doesn’t.”
“The medical insurance industry is a scheme to profit off pain, sickness and death. It doesn’t work for anyone but the people at the top.”
GiveSendGo
Beard continued: “Take a look at the comments on the fundraiser. Most are from people who have been screwed over by the health insurance industry, who have lost loved ones to claim denials. Many are from healthcare providers, who sympathize with Luigi—they have lost patients to bureaucracy and profiteering. This crisis has been widely known in the U.S. for decades. In that time, the rich have only gotten richer.”
“United Healthcare had record profits in 2024. They had record profits in 2022, and in 2023, too. That profit is the unnecessary debt and death of millions of regular people. … We need to end profit-motive in healthcare. We need free, universal healthcare,” Beard concluded.
As donations continue pouring in, it remains unclear whether Mangione will receive or use the funds.
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At a news conference Tuesday, Mangione’s lawyer, Thomas Dickey, was asked if he would accept public donations to help fund his client’s defense. Dickey responded, “I don’t know.”
Newsweek contacted Dickey via email on Thursday for comment.
Maria A. Bivens, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, told Newsweek via email on Thursday that Mangione has yet to receive any physical or online fan mail.
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