OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:01 PM – Friday, December 13, 2024
A woman in Florida has been charged after being accused of threatening an act of terrorism or mass shooting. She reportedly threatened an insurance agent who had informed her that her medical claim was denied.
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42-year-old Briana Boston was taken into custody after telling a Blue Cross Blue Shield agent “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next,” as her medical claim was denied.
In her threat, “copycat” Boston was referencing Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old suspect who fatally shot the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, on December 4th in Midtown Manhattan. The shell casings of the ammunition from his ghost gun had the same words and “motto” scribbled on them, police say.
The national news story made headlines and triggered a national conversation about the “perceived predatory nature” of for-profit healthcare firms.
Both phrases used by Boston and Luigi Mangione stem from a book written by Jay Feinman, a professor emeritus at Rutgers Law School. The book is titled “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”
The book was released in 2010 and it dissects the “abuse of auto and home insurance.” The book also breaks down how certain companies can distort and maneuver their way out of claims to “avoid paying justified claims.”
Lakeland police officers visited 42-year-old Boston’s home following her threat. She soon admitted to threatening the agent and company, quickly apologizing. Boston claimed that she “used those words because it’s what is in the news right now,” adding that she did not even own any firearms and had no intentions of actually carrying out violence.
Additionally, affidavit documents revealed how Boston asserted that healthcare companies “deserve karma from the world because they are evil,” in her own words.
Surprisingly, the CEO’s December 4th murder also prompted sympathy and support for the suspected killer, with some social media users arguing that Thompson, a father of two, “deserved to be killed” for his role in the perceived “predatory denial of medical claims.”
In addition, Mangione’s manifesto was recently discovered as well. The 26-year-old suspect went into depth in describing his reasons for killing Thompson at point blank range in Midtown Manhattan.
“I do apologize for any strife of traumas, but it had to be done,” Mangione wrote. “Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.”
“The U.S. has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but as our life expectancy? 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,” he continued.
“It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play. Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty,” he added.
Boston’s bond is set at $100,000 and she faces up to 15 years in prison.
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