Luigi Mangione Admits to Shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO as He Pleads Guilty in Federal Case

ABCNews.com:

Luigi Mangione admitted to shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as he pleaded guilty Friday to two federal stalking counts, marking a dramatic turn of events in the high-profile killing. 

 

Thompson's family spoke out in a rare statement Friday, calling the plea an "important step toward justice," as Mangione's attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the charges he's facing in state court under New York's double jeopardy law. 

 

In the federal courtroom Friday, Mangione outlined his crime, saying, "After years of enduring severe pain from a broken back ... I learned that UnitedHealthcare would be holding its annual investor conference in New York City." Mangione said he learned the exact location of UnitedHealthcare's conference by emailing the company, posing as an investor with more than $50 billion in capital.

After pleading guilty, the sentence for Mangione here should be easy: life in prison without the possibility of parole. But of course, with our wayward criminal justice system, you never know what might happen. That said, at least Brian Thompson's family wil receive some quick justice and won't have to endure being put through a long and stressful trial. And while Mangione's sick white, liberal fangirls around the country will undoubtedly express their dismay at Mangione receiving any prison time at all (yunno, in the name of 'karma') hopefully over time Thompson's family will be able eo heal.

RELATED: BREAKING: Mangione Pleads Guilty in Federal Court

Luigi Mangione Fangirls Unapologetically Celebrate CEO’s Assassination: ‘F—k Brian Thompson’

NYPost.com:

Their Luigimania earned them a pass. A trio of bloodthirsty fans of accused assassin Luigi Mangione — who were granted press passes by City Hall — spouted vile hate and unapologetic calls for political violence from a Manhattan courthouse steps Monday. 

 

Mangione fangirls Abril Rios, Ashley Rojas and Lena Weissbrot proudly showed off the passes they received for their respective Substacks documenting Mangione’s upcoming trial for the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. But the “reporters” made no bones about supporting Mangione’s alleged vendetta to strike fear into the hearts of healthcare executives such as Thompson. 

 

“F—k Brian Thompson,” Rojas said. “That’s all I want to say. F—k Brian Thompson. F—k his mom.” Weissbort chimed in with an even more reprehensible response. “His children are better off without him,” she said. “They need to learn to not be like their dad. And enjoy the blood money, kids. “He’s responsible for more deaths than Osama bin Laden, and I remember Americans celebrating when Osama bin Laden was killed. It’s not like we don’t understand heroic violence, or, like, when violence is good.”

Depraved. Sick. Downright evil. Any one of those words — or all three — fits these so-called Luigi Mangione “fangirls” openly celebrating the cold-blooded murder of a husband and father. No decent human being would applaud an act like this, and the fact that some of these women hold press credentials makes their behavior even more disturbing. Protest healthcare policies, lobby for reform, run for office, or support causes you believe in — that’s how civilized people push for change. But the moment you celebrate political violence or murder because it targets someone you dislike, you cross a moral line. Violence should never be the answer, and anyone cheering it on reveals something deeply rotten about their character.

RELATED: Judge allows key evidence in Luigi Mangione’s New York murder trial

Trump Announces the “Great Healthcare Plan” That Pays Money Directly to Americans

NBCNews.com:

The Trump administration announced a plan aimed at lowering health care costs in the U.S. on Thursday, just as Affordable Care Act open enrollment ends in most states. But the plan lacks key details and largely restates proposals President Donald Trump has previously outlined. 

 

The proposal, dubbed “The Great Healthcare Plan,” is being framed by administration officials as a broader effort to rein in health costs, including lowering prescription drug prices, redirecting government subsidies from insurers to consumers and expanding price transparency requirements. 

 

Trump has been promising a health care plan overhaul for months. The outline for the plan lands as Republicans in Congress negotiate for a bill to extend the enhanced ACA tax credits, which expired Dec. 31 and led to higher premiums for millions of people. The Senate is set leave for a weeklong recess, further diminishing any chance of a deal.

Well, this is a start anyway for Republicans who usually do nothing but complain about ObamaCare without having any plan of their own. But without any clear funding or an execution timeline, how serious is the GOP about this? Only time will tell.

RELATED: Trump invites Schumer to White House to talk NYC funds, health care and ICE

9 More Drugmakers Agree to Trump’s Policy to Lower Some Prices

TheHill.com:

The White House announced Friday that nine additional pharmaceutical companies have agreed to follow President Trump’s “most favored nation” (MFN) drug pricing policy, with some of the companies throwing in several months’ worth of emergency drug supplies. 

 

The deals are the latest in a string of agreements the White House has announced with drugmakers that are aimed at lowering prices so they match what other countries pay. 

 

“This represents the greatest victory for patient affordability in the history of American health care, by far,” Trump said at an Oval Office press conference. “The pharmaceutical companies were difficult, but they also love our country. They knew it was unfair, but they were great.”

This news is a really good thing, but of course it won't get much attention from the msm because they hate Trump. That being said if Trump can put together a meeting with the heads of Congress along with the big shots at the major pharmaceutical company's, tell them that gov't is going to come up with a plan with or without them to lower drug costs, moving forward when it comes to affordability this could benefit Americans everywhere.

RELATED: Trump End-Of-Year Address Should Have Been A Christmas Letter

4 Republicans Join Democrats on Extending ACA Subsidies

LiveNowFOX.com:

Four House Republicans crossed party lines Wednesday to force a vote on extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits that millions of Americans rely on to lower their health insurance premiums. 

 

The four centrist Republicans signed onto a Democratic-led petition after House Republicans moved forward with a health care bill that doesn’t take any action on the ACA (or Obamacare) subsidies set to expire at the end of the year. 

 

Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Robert Bresnahan and Ryan Mackenzie, all from Pennsylvania, and Mike Lawler of New York signed on Wednesday morning, pushing it to the 218 votes needed to pass. With the GOP holding a slim 220-213 majority in the House, it only takes a few Republican defectors to upend the leadership’s agenda.

I've been saying that if Republicans want to keep control of the House next year they better either come up with an alternative healthcare plan of their own or put their ego's aside and negotiate with Democrats to extend the current ACA subsidies because too many Americans, Republicans and Democrats, depend of Obamacare. And it's way too risky to do nothing.

RELATED: Johnson denies he's 'lost control' of House after Republican health care revolt

Rand Paul Offers Trump and GOP an Affordable Healthcare Plan

Newsweek.com:

Obamacare costs the taxpayers billions of dollars and costs every individual thousands of dollars a year in increased premiums. As conservatives, including myself, warned in the debate over Obamacare, subsidizing insurance simply increases demand and therefore increases the price of health insurance. 

 

Where once there existed the choice of a higher deductible plan with lower premiums, now Obamacare plans offer high deductibles and high premiums. Any semblance of a functioning individual health insurance market has been eliminated, as government health insurance or employers are the only real source of coverage for nearly all Americans. 

 

My health care plan, called the Health Marketplace and Savings Accounts For All Act, which I will introduce this week, does two things and costs the taxpayers nothing. First, my plan legalizes the ability for any group to purchase insurance collectively and operate across state lines. My plan would make it legal for Costco, Sam’s Club, or Amazon to bargain for their millions of members as a single entity, thereby driving prices down. These collectives could be bigger than any corporation in America and have the size and leverage to drive health premiums down. In fact, once these co-ops are legalized, the individual market likely melts away, and everyone in America would gain the benefits that normally accrue to the group market.

Considering the fact that GOP, in light of all their criticism of Obamacare over the years, still have no healthcare plan of their own, it'd make a lot of sense for Trump to take this plan to the voters and see what they think. Senator Paul says his proposal will improve healthcare and lower costs, so in an age where everyone is taking about affordability, what's Trump's gotta lose here?

RELATED: Housing Affordability ‘Considerably Worse’ Than Five Years Ago

Medicare for All Backers Argue It’s a Better Solution Than Whatever President Trump Is Cooking Up

CommonDreams.org:

As President Donald Trump postpones unveiling his supposed plan to tackle soaring US healthcare costs—reportedly after pushback from congressional Republicans—Medicare for All advocates have renewed calls for shifting to a single-payer system. “Republicans have a million ideas regarding healthcare. Except one,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with Democrats, said on social media Monday afternoon. “They will never acknowledge that healthcare is a human right—to be guaranteed to ALL.” 

 

The union National Nurses United also called for Medicare for All on Monday, pointing to a recent West Health/Gallup poll that found 47% of US adults are worried they won’t be able to afford healthcare next year, the highest level since they began tracking in 2021. 

 

“The urgency around this is real,” West Health president Timothy Lash told NBC News. “When you look at the economic strain that is on families right now, even if healthcare prices didn’t rise, the costs are rising elsewhere, which only exacerbates the problem.”

Of course, when it comes to messaging, Republicans face a major problem on healthcare: despite years spent trying to dismantle Obamacare, the GOP still doesn’t have a replacement plan. And with premiums expected to skyrocket once Obamacare expires at the end of the year, the lack of any viable alternative leaves the GOP in a politically disastrous position as well as a bleak outlook for them as they head into next year’s midterms.

RELATED: Does Anyone Even Remember Trump Once Favored Medicare for All?