A proposed ballot measure in California associated with Luigi Mangione—the man who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson—is aimed at forcing insurance companies to accept or provide prescribed treatments and medications from doctors. He made reference to Mangione’s name in a phone interview on Sunday in order to increase the popularity of the proposal, according to Paul Eisner, a retired attorney who filed the proposal. The insurance providers also have a tendency of not fulfilling their obligations as noted by him while explaining that the initiative has received a lot of attention. According to him, this is to make sure that “carriers do what they’re supposed to do.
Mangione is a 26-year-old who is facing federal murder charges after allegedly shooting Thompson in New York City on December 4, 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and if convicted, he may face the death penalty. However, Mangione has shocked many by getting a lot of people on his side, despite the fact that he is in a lot of trouble with the law. It is for this reason that people have taken it upon themselves to defend him by cheering him on and raising more than $700,000 to ensure that he gets a proper defense.
Frustration with the health insurance system in America has been building up over the years. The killing of Thompson has only heightened the ire of the public, making the industry to be in the dock. Insurance executives have also vowed to look at the possibility of making some changes as the critics have called for total transformation. Eisner’s ballot measure, which is as a result of Mangione’s defiance of the insurance world, prohibits companies from delaying or altering doctor-recommended care where severe consequences such as disability or death may occur.
Eisner, who still has an active license to practice law, submitted the proposal to the California Attorney General’s office. It reads: “No insurer may delay, deny, or modify any medical procedure or medication recommended by a treating or attending physician where the delay, denial, or modification could result in disability, death, amputation, permanent disfigurement, or loss or reduction of any bodily function.” This is why the measure was filed on March 26 and given the name the “Luigi Mangione Access to Health Care Act” at the request of Eisner and is now being reviewed by the Attorney General’s office. It is possible for Californians to submit their comments until late April.
The Attorney General’s office will give the proposal an official name, and Eisner believes that Mangione’s name will probably be removed from it. “I’m fine with that,” he said. The initiative also states that it is only a licensed physician and not the insurance staff that can overrule a doctor’s recommendation. It would be considered a felony if denials were handled by non-physicians under the proposed measure. Eisner who had a fight with rectal cancer 15 years ago said that his experience with the healthcare system was a major factor that made him come up with the idea.
However, he did not agree with the methods used by Mangione. “I don’t condone his approach,” Eisner said. “He’s right about the problem, but you address it through politics or the law—not by assassinating someone.” The police at Thompson’s murder scene discovered bullet casings with the inscriptions of the words; ‘Delay’, ‘Deny’, and ‘Depose’ which are connected with the book *Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It*. These are the tactics that insurers have been accused of employing: putting off claims, rejecting them flat out, and fighting claimants in court.
The California Association of Health Plans opposed the measure stating that: “This lawyer is using a murder and act of terrorism to advance his political agenda. This is rather shameful especially from a person who used to defend the law and the Constitution.” The public comments for the proposal are open until April 25. After that the Attorney General’s office will come up with the final name. To get to the November 2026 ballot, supporters will have to gather 546,000 valid signatures of registered California voters.
Mangione, however, is still held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He is set to appear in the federal court in Manhattan on the 18th of April.