INSPIRED

Luigi Mangione May Appear on Ballot in California

“Sometimes things require publicity,” said the attorney who has proposed the ballot measure.

Alleged killer Luigi Mangione has inspired shirts, documentaries, memes, and—now—a proposed new law in California. Los Angeles attorney Paul Eisner submitted the “Luigi Mangione Access to Health Care Act” to the state’s attorney general’s office last week, a ballot measure that would make it illegal to “deny, delay, or modify” a medical procedure that a physician has recommended. Eisner told KFMB that he named the measure after the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson “for a very simple reason: it is getting the attention it needs, because sometimes things require publicity.” The words “delay” and “deny”—which were inscribed on bullet casings used in the shooting—come from a popular book about the abuses of the healthcare industry, Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It. The proposed ballot measure has rankled some conservatives who have used the opportunity to attack Democrats. “I’m starting to suspect the Democrats in charge of California might actually just be simple road side lunatics after all,” Leigh Wolf, the executive producer of the Ruthless podcast, wrote on X.