The assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan last week has drawn more media scrutiny of America’s health care system than we saw in the entire 2024 presidential election. Many are taking the occasion to debate the appropriateness of the public response, which has tended to be unsympathetic. Perhaps a more pressing question is: If Americans feel this way about private health insurance, then why have politicians dropped the issue?

It’s clear in the aftermath of the murder, allegedly carried out by twenty-six-year-old Luigi Mangione, that people across the political spectrum are outraged at insurance companies’ greed and the system’s inability to provide adequate care for Americans. But without a mass movement around Medicare for All helmed by strong political leadership, it is difficult to imagine how people’s rage and despair can be channeled into lasting change.

Senator Bernie Sanders spoke with Jacobin contributor Chandler Dandridge about the reaction to Thompson’s murder, the cruelty of the for-profit health care system, the case for Medicare for All, how to promote unity among working-class voters, and the need for Democratic Party leaders to say which side they are on.