What were the motives of the UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin?
💎
Premium
618
Ṁ390k
2026
80%
An attempt to terrorize people into bringing down the system of private insurance in the United States
78%
A set of radical beliefs that do not fit on a strict left/right paradigm
52%
Mental illness
50%
Chronic Back Pain
42%
An attempt to change the incentive structure present at the CEO level of UHC and similar companies
26%
Wrongful delay or deny insurance claims
24%
Assassin suffered a personal tragedy at the hands of UnitedHealthcare
14%
Radical Leftism
8%
Genetic predisposition (Italian)
7%
Personal conflict with CEO
6%
Targeted hit/contract killing
5%
Fame
3%
Manipulation of the share price of UnitedHealth Inc for profit.
3%
Business
3%
brainwashed right wing anti-vax lunatic
1.6%
Random act of violence

Background On December 4th, 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel in what police have described as a "targeted attack." Thompson's wife has reported that he had been receiving threats prior to his death, though the specific nature of these threats remains unclear.
https://ground.news/article/2ac8a2a9-8b3a-4bf1-9b55-fe2f5bb80dc7

Resolution Criteria This market will resolve based on official statements from law enforcement, court documents, or credible reports that definitively establish the motives behind Brian Thompson's assassination. Multiple answers may resolve YES if multiple motives are established.

  • "Radical Leftism" resolves YES if evidence shows the attack was primarily motivated by far-left ideology or anti-capitalist extremism

  • "Personal tragedy" resolves YES if the assassin or their family member experienced documented harm from UnitedHealthcare policies/decisions that motivated the attack

  • "Business" resolves YES if the motive was related to business dealings, corporate rivalry, or financial disputes, either with respect to Brian Thompson personally or UnitedHealthcare

  • "Mental health crisis" resolves YES if official reports indicate the attacker's primary motivation was related to mental illness or psychosis

  • "Targeted hit/contract killing" resolves YES if evidence shows the assassination was a paid hit or professionally orchestrated murder

  • "Personal conflict" resolves YES if the motive stemmed from personal grievances between the assassin and Thompson

If no compelling evidence exists that a motive was a substantial factor in the assassin's actions by December 31st 2025, or by the conclusion of a trial if such occurs and is likely to present novel information as to motives, remaining outstanding motives will be resolved NO.


Please feel empowered to add your own options.

Possible clarification from creator (AI generated):

  • For the Personal tragedy option, the tragedy must have been experienced directly by the assassin themselves, not by someone who hired them

  • If the assassin was hired by someone who experienced a personal tragedy, this would resolve as Targeted hit/contract killing only

  • If the assassin both suffered a personal tragedy AND was being paid, both options could resolve YES if there is evidence for both motives

  • Update 2024-10-12 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - For the Personal tragedy option, the assessment will be based on the assassin's subjective experience and perception of events, not an objective measure of harm

    • Normal bureaucratic processes that caused significant distress to the assassin can qualify as a personal tragedy

    • If the wrongful denial of claims option resolves YES, the Personal tragedy option will automatically resolve YES

  • Update 2024-10-12 (PST): - The option 'An attempt to change the incentive structure' will resolve YES if there is:

    • Direct evidence of intent to alter incentives for healthcare CEOs

    • OR substantial evidence of intent to influence CEO behavior through fear or threats to 'business as usual' (AI summary of creator comment)

  • Update 2024-10-12 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - For the Mental health crisis option, an insanity plea would resolve YES

    • A mental health crisis does not need to be the primary motivation - it only needs to be one of the primary motivations

  • Update 2024-13-12 (PST): - Drug-induced psychosis will be considered part of the Mental health crisis option (AI summary of creator comment)

  • Update 2024-13-12 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - Radical leftism will resolve YES if motives are based on:

    • Ideology supporting collectivization of means of production

    • Support for expropriation/redistribution of wealth

    • Extra-legal revolution for leftward economic shift

    • Membership in DSA or explicit agreement with DSA principles

    • Radical leftism will resolve NO if motives are based on:

    • Support for European-style socialized healthcare

    • General social democracy or welfarism

    • Belief that corporations should be socially beneficial

  • Update 2024-13-12 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - For the Radical Leftism option, advocating for stakeholder capitalism, corporate regulation, or corporate social responsibility will not qualify as radical leftist motives

    • The use of radical/extreme tactics (like assassination) does not automatically make the underlying political beliefs radical for resolution purposes

  • Update 2024-17-12 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - For the Mental health crisis option, the resolution will use a broader definition of acute mental health as a motive, rather than the technical/clinical definition of a mental health crisis

    • The assessment will not be strictly limited to official clinical criteria for what constitutes a mental health crisis

  • Update 2024-18-12 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - The Mental health crisis option has been renamed to Mental illness to better reflect that mental health related motives do not need to be concentrated in an acute period

    • Mental health issues only need to be one of the contributing factors, not necessarily the primary motivation

    • A clinical/technical definition of mental health crisis will not be used for resolution

  • Update 2024-18-12 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - For the Mental illness option (formerly Mental health crisis), the resolution will use a broader definition similar to severe persistent mental illness, rather than requiring an acute crisis period

    • The assessment will not be strictly limited to clinical/technical definitions

    • Mental health issues only need to be one of the primary motivations, not necessarily the sole primary motivation

  • Update 2024-19-12 (PST) (AI summary of creator comment): - For the Mental illness option, resolution will be based on a holistic and qualitative judgment by the creator

    • Appeals can be made to moderators if traders strongly disagree with the creator's resolution

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@TheWabiSabi @tedks One of the (automated?) description bullet points says that if this resolves Yes then the Personal UHC tragedy question resolves Yes, but if the Wrongful question resolves Yes due to something a different healthcare company did, that would not make sense.

Aill the people voting for nuanced third thing guy have to explain why he cited Michael Moore and selected his victim by market cap and filled a bag with monopoly money and chose the symbolism of a shareholder meeting in front of a luxury hotel. The best explanation is that he was a confused guy looking for simple answers and the simple answer he landed on was doctrinaire Michael Moore style leftism.

How can "bring down private insurance industry" be at 64% and radical leftism at 9%? It don't make no sense.

@DonutThrow Tbh it’s not really a left issue. People on both sides would like to have big reforms/incentivisation structure changes

@RichardKnoche That doesn't entail the end of the private insurance industry. That's a left wing idea.

reposted

Today I am sharing the manifold wisdom I have learned it here, ABC - ALWAYS BE CLARIFYING!

The real motive is that Luigi was tired of always being in the shadow of his brother Mario and decided to do something about it.

@PlasmaBallin I think that falls under "Fame"

I love how all these markets invariably end up with all but like 1-2 options resolving NO, no matter how reasonable the options initially seem. NO holders stay winning.

@benshindel I've learned my lession. For this latest terrorist in Germany I'm voting "A set of radical beliefs that don't fit right or left" because literally any set of beliefs can be sealioned to death to fit that answer

@DonutThrow Is there a market on that? I couldn't find it.

bought Ṁ50 NO

Given the ruling re radical leftism that support for political violence doesn’t automatically make the underlying political belief radical, and the ruling that social democracy / corporate responsibility isn’t a radical belief, would the same apply here?

In other words, if he’s just a run of the mill dude whose only motivating view is that the US healthcare system is in need of reform, that would see this question resolve NO, right?

@OP This is not my option and when I made this market I was under the impression that people would be resolving the options they added. I'm not sure how to resolve this and think the fact that it has so much strength in the market is an artifact of how vague it is, not necessarily that there is a truth here.

I would much rather the specific beliefs be put forward. I only added "radical leftism" because it was already a topic of discussion.

We've gotten so caught up in helping the less fortunate that we've forgotten to help the people who are fortunate.

@regenerative_sportscare Who do you mean?

@tedks https://www.axios.com/2024/12/13/unitedhealthcare-ceo-killing-insurer-suspect-not-client
UHC just confirmed he wasn't a client. I guess still plausible a family member was but this doesn't seem likely for his motivations due to his alienation from his family, personal struggles with his back and ideological movement, etc...

The ? is not "what r his opinions " It's what opinions brought him to kill BT?

@herrweber earnestly: how do you intend to resolve this?

“Wrongful delay or deny” is currently at 28% yet the assassin literally wrote these words on the bullets……

@elf dude is from a rich family and had Aetna insurance at work which is rock solid (source: I have Aetna and hit the yearly out-of-pocket cap every year, so it doesn't just sit there collecting dust). So I'm 99% sure neither him nor his immediate family had any issues with health insurance.

@nsokolsky I always interpreted “wrongful deny or delay” to not be personal (as it’s worded as such + there’s another answer in that vein ) but a general frustration directed towards towards insurance system denials/delays

@tedks could you please clarify this?

@mods am i interpreting this correctly?

@elf GPT-Pro provides the following breakdown. I think it should resolve as the first option in the screenshot.

@elf I did not create that option and cannot comment on its resolution criteria.

@tedks you're the market creator! You have full discretion to resolve options, even those submitted by others!

@benshindel oh. Well, I don't think that's a very clear option and have no clue how to resolve it.

@tedks You could resolve as N/A if you like (which just refunds everyone)

However I’ve yet to hear a compelling counterargument to this

  • “wrongful deny or delay” does not mention the assassin’s personal insurance claims & there’s already another option which covers that therefore it should be understood as general frustration towards wrongful denys or delays by the healthcare system broadly.

Also, the reaction to the murder on social media is indicative of the general frustration many people have to the healthcare system’s denials and delays + the assassin wrote these terms on the bullets he used.

Imo, it would therefore be highly unusual to not include that as a possible motive in this market.

@nsokolsky What do the probabilities become if you provide GPT with additional context that there is an existing option that covers personal claims?

I suspect that would shift it heavily towards my interpretation

@elf it had the full context already as I gave it a screenshot of the full Manifold question page

@nsokolsky @tedks This is the response I got:

@elf that’s directly biasing the model. You need to give it a screenshot of the full Manifold question and ask the narrowest possible question to avoid hinting at what you want the answer to be.

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