--- title: "Congress Introduces Bills to Break Up UnitedHealth Group" description: "Congress is pushing to break up the nation's biggest insurance monopolies after Brian Thompson's murder last week." date: "2024-12-12" modified: "2024-12-12" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/congress-bill-breakup-insurance-monopolies" categories: - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "brian thompson" - "insurance" - "luigi mangione" - "unitedhealthcare" --- # Congress Introduces Bills to Break Up UnitedHealth Group ![Congress is pushing to break up the nation's biggest insurance monopolies after Brian Thompson's murder last week.]() *\Image: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty / Futurism\* Congress is pushing to break up the nation's biggest insurance monopolies after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's murder last week [sparked widespread anger](). As the [*New York Times* reports](), a pair of bipartisan bills seek to force insurers and other healthcare companies to sell off their so-called "[pharmacy benefit managers]()" or PBMs — which companies and government agencies use to manage their employees' prescription benefits — within the next three years. Named the Patients Before Monopolies Act, the Senate bill, sponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO), has a [sister proposal]() introduced in the House of Representatives. Though [neither]() [bill]() names any companies specifically, the *NYT* indicated that along with [UnitedHealth Group]() — the parent company of UHC and its PBM Optum Rx — CVS' Caremark and Cigna's Express scripts collectively account for 80 percent of all prescriptions in the United States. Crucially, these bills represent the first legislation targeting the insurance industry after Thompson's assassination last week. In a [handwritten manifesto](), suspected assassin Luigi Mangione railed against the American healthcare industry and asserted that "these parasites" — meaning, it seems, insurance executives like Thompson — "had it coming." Though none of the Congress members involved in the introduction of these bills cited Mangione or Thompson in their statements about the legislation, Warren suggested in a [*HuffPost* interview]() earlier this week that the public reaction to the CEO's murder represented a boiling point for the American people. "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system," the former presidential candidate said. "Violence is never the answer," she continued, "but people can be pushed only so far." As of now, it's unclear whether the bill has any chance of passing, especially in the [lame-duck Congressional session]() during which it was introduced. Still, it's a pretty big deal that it's making the rounds at all — and especially while Thompson's body has barely had time to cool. **More on insurance anger:** [*Leaked Video Shows Insurance CEO Gloating About Denying Care, Calling Critics Delusional*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()