It has been astonishing to watch the reactions to the cold-blooded killing of a health insurance executive. Not so much the rude reactions people have been posting online, but the reactions to those reactions, in both the media and in the political world. This inability to recognize the rage that exists towards health insurers in general is nothing more than elitism. People who simply can't understand this free-floating anger are out of touch with the struggles ordinary people face and the powerless feeling it leaves them with. Murdering someone on the street is obviously an unacceptable answer, but it has provided a catharsis of feeling that someone out there took the power into his own hands for once. It's not exactly Robin Hood, but cheering for an outlaw isn't exactly a new thing when the outlaw is seen to be fighting back against entrenched power.

These feelings aren't confined just to health insurance. There are many industries that, over time, have gotten bigger and less personal and harder to deal with. Average people are left with no valid choice when the few companies that control an industry all decide to provide fewer services or make it much harder (or much more impersonal) to access those services. This leaves consumers feeling like they are paying more but getting less.

This describes many industries in America today, in fact. But a few stand out mostly because they are so necessary to modern life. The airline industry is a good example. Flying is almost a necessity for travelling long distances -- few people have the time or energy to drive (or take a train or bus) for distances of more than a couple hundred miles. Flying is really the only efficient way of getting there.

But the corporations who run the airline industry have been ruthless and relentless in both making the cost of doing so as high as possible and offering as dismal an experience as can be imagined. Things which used to be provided free now cost extra (a lot extra, in some cases). Meals, in-flight entertainment, checking baggage, a decent amount of legroom, even getting seats together with your flying companions all now require extra fees -- and there is nothing any consumer can do about it. We are forced to accept each new fee or reduction in service as the new normal -- over and over again. Since virtually all airlines jump on board some new creative way to make flying more expensive or a worse experience, consumers can't just choose a better company in protest -- because soon enough all of them are using the new lower standard introduced by their competitors.

Younger people don't know any different, of course. They grew up with crappy service. But those old enough to remember when things were markedly better know full well that all of these changes are to pad the bottom line of a gigantic corporation whose competitors offer the same lousy deal. And that leaves people feeling powerless and ripped-off. But there's nothing any of us can do to change it -- we all just have to accept whatever new ripoff they come up with, if we're going to travel long distances. Or you can pay a fortune and actually get decent service, but the price is so high only the elite can afford it. The rest of us are left to wallow in the misery that is air travel these days -- which gives rise to feelings of powerlessness and anger.

That's just one example. There are others. But while there are negative feelings against the airlines or big banks or whatever other industry, they do not involve life and death. The health insurance industry does. You can choose not to fly. But with health care, the choice can be pretty binary: you get it, or you die. Even when the choice is not that extreme, it can mean unnecessary pain or delay or incurring massive expenses when you thought you were already covered. The rage against the companies that deny health services to people is a lot more personal and visceral than for any other industry.

So when a lone gunman murders the head of one of these companies, it quickly gives rise to expressing a very basic reaction: "Serves him right." Everyone knows that an executive who makes many millions of dollars a year simply doesn't have to go through the pain and hassle the rest of the populace does when attempting to actually use their health insurance to get medical care. They don't have to spend hours on the phone arguing with some bureaucrat to get a test or a treatment approved. A millionaire can afford to pay anything, even if the health insurance company won't. They don't have to make choices between medical treatment and being able to put food on the table. This inequality is annoying enough for a cramped passenger on an airplane, but when it is a matter of: "We will not pay for this treatment that will save your life" it is far, far worse. Not being able to fly somewhere isn't exactly inhumane, but denying life-saving care (or even just regular care) does indeed rise to that level.

And there's nothing most people can do about it. If the faceless bureaucrat decides to deny you coverage (or charge you an outrageous amount out-of-pocket), you are left powerless to do anything about it.

I don't speak from personal experience, I should mention. I have been lucky enough never yet to have gone through what millions of other people have. I may someday, though, and even that is not a good feeling to have. But I have heard from plenty of others the helplessness and frustration and rage they feel towards these giant corporations who make such cruel decisions -- just to make sure their profits stay up. And the overwhelming feeling of helplessness has no real outlet.

This is why the gallows humor and sarcasm expressed online didn't surprise me one bit. But even without the rudeness, the helplessness remains. Here is an excerpt from a letter written to the Washington Post, in response to an article condemning all the rude online comments. It is notable because it is coming from a doctor, not from someone who was denied service:

Imagine this hypothetical, drawn from my own experiences as a physician: A patient with recurrent infections visits an immunologist. The doctor orders tests for a suspected immune deficiency, but the insurance provider refuses to cover them. Without proper evaluation, the patient worsens. The doctor applies for lifesaving medication, but coverage can't be approved because of incomplete diagnostics. The pharmacy, holding the medication, cannot dispense it without an order. Frustrated, they return it to the manufacturer. The pharmaceutical company, seeing low demand, discontinues the drug, eventually going out of business. The pharmacy, losing suppliers, follows. The doctor, overwhelmed by a system prioritizing denials over care, retires. Their students, once inspired to practice medicine, choose different careers, disillusioned by the bureaucratic nightmare. Lawmakers, reliant on pharmaceutical funding, lose influence. With no doctors or treatments left, insurance companies crumble, and humanity faces unchecked illness.

That's the view from the inside of the health care system. And it's pretty bleak, you've got to admit. If even the doctors are feeling just as helpless as the patient who has their treatment denied, then something is obviously very wrong with the system.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle find it easiest to deny any problem exists, which certainly doesn't help the situation. Those on the right insist: "America has the best health care system in the world!" Politicians on the left congratulate themselves for the creation of Obamacare, because they are content to believe that that fixed all the problems. And the few politicians who do point out how bad the system truly is (people like Bernie Sanders) are dismissed as cranks. Any suggestions for fundamental changes in the system are shot down as being wildly extremist. So nothing much changes.

This just further exacerbates the feeling of helplessness among the public. Not only are you helpless fighting against the health insurance bureaucracy, but there is absolutely no hope of anything changing for the better at any time soon.

When it comes to your own health and your own ability to pay for things you thought you were covered for, it's pretty easy to understand why someone would eventually just snap. When the entire system is rigged to be against you and your suffering and there simply is no hope of change for the better, then the decision to do something dramatic might become appealing.

Of course, murder isn't the answer. The gunman is going to pay a very steep personal price for what he did. But for everyone else who has had similar experiences of helplessness in the face of an inhumane system, it's a lot easier to sympathize with the shooter than the health insurance executive. Millions of people can relate to his experience, while very few relate to the family of a multimillionaire nobody had ever heard of. It's really not that hard to understand the reactions the shooting caused. But what's most unfortunate is that even such an extreme act is probably not going to change anything -- or even spark a real discussion of the shortcomings of for-profit health insurance corporations.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant