Signs of sympathy and support for Mangione dotted the scene outside the courtroom Friday morning. In the hours ahead of the hearing, dozens of people lined up for the chance to observe the proceedings, and supporters waved signs that read "Free Luigi" and "Healthcare is a Human Right." Posters of the CEOs of other major healthcare corporations appeared nearby the court, with the word "WANTED" emblazoned above a picture of each executive.
The wealth of Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon nominated by President Donald Trump to lead CMS, has swelled in part from for-profit health care companies over which he'd wield significant power if confirmed, according to a newly filed government ethics report. In the filing, the 64-year-old former talk show host pledged to divest from those companies within three months of confirmation and said that until then, he wouldn't participate in any matter that could affect his investments. Oz's net worth is between $98 million and $332 million, according to an analysis of the disclosure, which lists asset values in ranges but does not give precise dollar figures. Oz shot to fame and made millions off his daytime talk show. His most recent disclosure shows he also holds millions of dollars worth of shares in health insurance, fertility, pharmaceutical and vitamin companies.
The legal defense fund for accused CEO assassin Luigi Mangione has raked in well over $500,000 in donations by Friday — as he is due in court for his first hearing since being slapped with murder and terror charges. Donations have been pouring in to help pay for the 26-year-old alleged killer’s legal fees ever since he was arrested in December over the cold-blooded killing of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel. As of early Friday, the online fundraiser had reached its target, having topped $514,500 — with the goal now raised to a staggering $1 million.
Bigger bonuses, higher executive salaries and a few eye-popping retirement payouts. That’s how St. Luke's Health System closed the books on its final year as a nonprofit independent hospital chain, according to recent tax filings. The $2.5 billion hospital system, which merged with St. Louis-based nonprofit BJC Healthcare at the start of 2024, paid one-third more in bonuses and incentives to its top-earning employees in 2023 compared to the previous year. Combined total compensation for those employees, whose salaries are included in the hospital system's 990 tax filings, was up 27%. Not surprisingly, executives at the top of the organizational chart saw the biggest paydays.
The vote was 52 to 48. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Republican majority leader and a polio survivor, was the sole Republican joining Democrats to vote against Kennedy. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch swore Kennedy in Thursday afternoon at a ceremony in the Oval Office attended by President Trump and members of Kennedy's family, including his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, and his children. Later on Thursday, Trump issued an executive order to establish a Make America Healthy Again Commission, with representation from the departments of Agriculture, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
The layoffs, which are slated to save over $200 million from MGB’s $10.3 billion salary and benefits expenses, are part of a broader joining of services across the sprawling 12-hospital network. To many, the consolidation is a critical, albeit challenging, step the system has put off since Mass. General came together with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1994. But much as many might agree on the necessity of the work, opinions differ on whether the specific decisions that executives are making are the right ones.