It is unfortunate that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro had to state the obvious about Luigi Mangione, who apparently gunned down UnitedHealthcare’s Brian Thompson: “In some dark corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this: He is no hero.” Mangione’s fans are even crowdfunding to raise money for his defense.

Imagine a world in which the response to every imagined slight and injustice was murder. It seems sadly appropriate that it was a privileged scion of a wealthy and influential family who channeled anti-tech assassin Ted Kaczynski and similarly acted as jury, judge, and executioner. Mangione, if guilty, committed a horrid crime. Those lauding him will share in the guilt if his act inspires others to take up his murderous enterprise.
However, Thompson’s murder highlights genuine and widespread dissatisfaction with America’s health care system. UnitedHealthcare has the industry’s highest claim rejection rate, about a third. As Obamacare fades into what passes for ancient history in Washington, the system’s serious infirmities go undiscussed and unresolved. It would be unfortunate to lose the tragic opportunity for policy reform created by Mangione’s presumed criminal response to his own health problems.
Health care in America is a mess. Not because it is private. Rather, because it is a bizarre hybrid, malformed by inefficient and maladroit government intervention at almost every turn. The problem with Obamacare was not that it attempted to radically restructure the system, but that it sought to do so by intensifying and expanding federal control of medicine.
We all have a basic human right to make our own health care decisions. However, saying that everyone has a “right to care” is meaningless. Who has an obligation to provide that care? And what is included in that right — every procedure, treatment, and medicine ever created or imagined throughout human history? A good society seeks to ensure that everyone has access to a basic level of care, i...