Senate Hearing Focuses On the Sunlight Report on UnitedHealth Group

This week, I presented the Sunlight Report on UnitedHealth Group's findings to the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Sixteen years ago, I walked into the halls of Congress to blow the whistle on the insurance industry that had paid me handsomely to help it deceive the public. This week, I returned to Capitol Hill, honored to testify before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The hearing, titled “Making Health Care Affordable: Solutions to Lower Costs and Empower Patients,“ brought together a diverse panel of experts, including Dr. Adam Gaffney of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Brian Miller of Johns Hopkins, Dr. Benedic Ippolito of the American Enterprise Institute, and health care policy expert Chris Deacon.

But this hearing was particularly meaningful to me for another reason: I was called to testify about our new Sunlight Report on UnitedHealth Group, and it was discussed at length during the hearing. Our report, the most ambitious investigation my nonprofit has ever undertaken, is now part of the official Congressional record.

Why Should You Care? 

For over a year, my team at the Center for Health & Democracy has been investigating the rise of UnitedHealth Group, which has grown to become the largest and most powerful health care corporation in the world. The result of that work is a first-of-its-kind investigation into the company’s nearly 2,700 subsidiaries and acquisitions. The report peels back the layers of a conglomerate that has quietly grown to become the third largest corporation in America by revenue, taking in over $400 billion in 2024 alone.

UnitedHealth is not just an insurer anymore. Through decades of vertical integration, it now owns or controls:

• Physician practices

• Home health agencies and hospices

• Data analytics companies

• Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)

• Even online doctor-finding tools like Healthgrades.com

This gives the company sweeping control over nearly every part of a patient’s health care journey — often profiting by paying its own care delivery entities. Worse, much of that money comes from taxpayer-funded programs like Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and VA contracts. As Senator Bernie Sanders noted during the hearing: “UnitedHealth has acquired about 2,700 different health care companies… it sounds like we’re moving to a single payer system that is run by UnitedHealth.” 

A Wake-Up Call for Policymakers

During my testimony, I urged Congress to finally confront what I warned about in my first appearance in 2009: the unchecked consolidation and profiteering of an industry trusted with Americans’ health. Laws like the Medicare Modernization Act and the Affordable Care Act were well-intentioned. But insurers like UnitedHealth have turned regulatory guardrails into speed bumps on their way to Wall Street windfalls.

The good news? Our work is being heard. Since publishing the Sunlight Report on UnitedHealth, we've seen increased media scrutiny, calls from lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle for a full Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into UnitedHealth, and, to the great dismay of the company’s executives, a stampede at the New York Stock Exchange. All this sunlight and scrutiny has contributed to an ongoing sell-off of the company’s shares.

Yesterday, UnitedHealth’s stock price sank to its lowest point in years despite the company’s promises on Tuesday to take actions to boost profits. In an attempt to get back into investors’ good graces, executives told Wall Street financial analysts it will inflict financial pain on employers and patients by hiking premiums, narrowing provider networks, dropping policyholders who need medical care and slashing benefits. More on that next week. 

I invite you to read my full written testimony to the Senate and dive into the Sunlight Report on UnitedHealth Group. It includes a comprehensive list of its subsidiaries (be prepared to do a lot of scrolling) and the data behind its stunning rise.