Behind closed doors at the $400 billion health care giant, panic has replaced polish –UnitedHealth’s war room is now a 24/7 scramble to protect profits, power and what’s left of its reputation.
I have always signed up for traditional Medicare, Medigap and Part D meds, for 14 years. It is a great program. I have rebuffed the push from my personal physician to go with Advantage and I still get several telephone calls a week marketing “a great program that will provide better coverage at less cost”. The sale pitches are hard pushed, and that alone tells me that the scam is on. No thank you. But, I will gladly jump ship and pay more if necessary for a one payer universal healthcare plan. Why is the supposed richest and greatest country in the industrialized world the only one without such a plan? Of course it is not that difficult to understand, in view of the ongoing propaganda against socialism in any form, except for the massive giveaway of monies to the rich and powerful.
As a UHC subscriber and (luckily) a healthy 86 year old, I'm surprised it took this long for them to crash. The Medicare Advantage's hard sell made me suspect a scam from day one. Their excessive GREED is coming back to bite'em in the a$$. SO BE IT!!!
I read this with excessive amusement. United was the insurance company that almost killed me about 18 years ago through their incessant claim denials, prior authorizations. insane network problems, and all other stuff. I hope that they crash and burn and are left with nothing but smoke and ashes and if the United CEOs are monitoring this, they will at least know what we think of them.
UHC’s failures are long overdue. When we were in private practice, UHC was the only carrier we refused to accept assignment for. Their reimbursements to physicians were less than Medicare and it would cost us $$ to see their subscribers. To have to fight for every dollar paid to physicians was the last insult. UHC needs to be disbanded and Medicare DisAdvantsge plans need an overhaul.
We have United Health Care for our supplemental. We got rid of our Aetna Advantage. We got notice that our UHC premium was going up January 1. What is the best choice for a supplemental plan? It's impossible to know how to choose? We need Medicare for all with no involvement of private companies!!
I rely on Pima Council on Aging doing all the research and decided to buy a wellabe Medicare Supplement High Deductible plan G. Approximately $30 a month for one senior.
You can remember it with G for good.
It is underwritten by Medico Insurance Company.
Nobody needs all this confusion and let’s get profit OUT of healthcare.
@Susananda The cost of every single supplemental varies from state to state. NY metropolitan area, including Long Island and Westchester county south of Yorktown have the highest rates in the US.
I wonder if AARP executives are also panicked. They rake in $200 million plus by promoting this unscrupulous health insurer to their members. As always, wealth over health!
This situation is the outcome of the “bigger is better” paradigm where the only thing better than bigger is to get even more BIGGER. last time I checked, what goes up must come down. And, please indulge me one more trite aphorism, the bigger they are the harder they fall.
Modern capitalism needs to embrace sustainability. Not in the environmental sense, although that counts almost as much. Rather, in the sense of sustainable growth and profits. This isn’t growth. It’s cancer.
Perpetual growth, consolidation and the greed for ever rising profit has brought UHC to this point. Other corporate giants should take note.
Stress on my 78 year old wife and I as we struggle with our United Health Care Medicare supplement going up every few months, along with rent increases on apartment.....Any one got a couple of good sized cardboard boxes they want to part with???
I found it interesting that Blue Shield of CA sent me a survey recently that included an open-ended question about what health insurance companies in general could do to improve.
I started my honest response with, "Stop being evil."
I have always signed up for traditional Medicare, Medigap and Part D meds, for 14 years. It is a great program. I have rebuffed the push from my personal physician to go with Advantage and I still get several telephone calls a week marketing “a great program that will provide better coverage at less cost”. The sale pitches are hard pushed, and that alone tells me that the scam is on. No thank you. But, I will gladly jump ship and pay more if necessary for a one payer universal healthcare plan. Why is the supposed richest and greatest country in the industrialized world the only one without such a plan? Of course it is not that difficult to understand, in view of the ongoing propaganda against socialism in any form, except for the massive giveaway of monies to the rich and powerful.
Simply, immoral.
Yes, please continue to keep your Medicare straight. No BS with authorizations and no gatekeepers.
Yes taxpayers giveaway, aka corporate welfare and cash cow for UHG
Amen!
As a UHC subscriber and (luckily) a healthy 86 year old, I'm surprised it took this long for them to crash. The Medicare Advantage's hard sell made me suspect a scam from day one. Their excessive GREED is coming back to bite'em in the a$$. SO BE IT!!!
I read this with excessive amusement. United was the insurance company that almost killed me about 18 years ago through their incessant claim denials, prior authorizations. insane network problems, and all other stuff. I hope that they crash and burn and are left with nothing but smoke and ashes and if the United CEOs are monitoring this, they will at least know what we think of them.
UHC’s failures are long overdue. When we were in private practice, UHC was the only carrier we refused to accept assignment for. Their reimbursements to physicians were less than Medicare and it would cost us $$ to see their subscribers. To have to fight for every dollar paid to physicians was the last insult. UHC needs to be disbanded and Medicare DisAdvantsge plans need an overhaul.
I feel so sorry for them, NOT.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/21/unitedhealth-nursing-homes-payments-hospital-transfers
We have United Health Care for our supplemental. We got rid of our Aetna Advantage. We got notice that our UHC premium was going up January 1. What is the best choice for a supplemental plan? It's impossible to know how to choose? We need Medicare for all with no involvement of private companies!!
I rely on Pima Council on Aging doing all the research and decided to buy a wellabe Medicare Supplement High Deductible plan G. Approximately $30 a month for one senior.
You can remember it with G for good.
It is underwritten by Medico Insurance Company.
Nobody needs all this confusion and let’s get profit OUT of healthcare.
@Susananda The cost of every single supplemental varies from state to state. NY metropolitan area, including Long Island and Westchester county south of Yorktown have the highest rates in the US.
I wonder if AARP executives are also panicked. They rake in $200 million plus by promoting this unscrupulous health insurer to their members. As always, wealth over health!
This situation is the outcome of the “bigger is better” paradigm where the only thing better than bigger is to get even more BIGGER. last time I checked, what goes up must come down. And, please indulge me one more trite aphorism, the bigger they are the harder they fall.
Modern capitalism needs to embrace sustainability. Not in the environmental sense, although that counts almost as much. Rather, in the sense of sustainable growth and profits. This isn’t growth. It’s cancer.
Perpetual growth, consolidation and the greed for ever rising profit has brought UHC to this point. Other corporate giants should take note.
Stress on my 78 year old wife and I as we struggle with our United Health Care Medicare supplement going up every few months, along with rent increases on apartment.....Any one got a couple of good sized cardboard boxes they want to part with???
But wait, they get worse: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/21/unitedhealth-nursing-homes-payments-hospital-transfers?
As to investigations, Aetna should be next.
Wendell, thank you for this great column. Greatly appreciate your insights.
I’ve been telling this to the boomers that follow this stack for quite some time now.
All of these giant Payors run on a razor’s edge. The fact that the numbers are very large is irrelevant.
And if this one fails, about 50,000,000 people are going to have to figure something out real fast.
Be careful what you wish for.
“You should be happy that you are not a part of UnitedHealth’s leadership team right now.”
Uhm. No. I do not have to be thankful that I’m not suffering the consequences of KILLING MY CUSTOMERS.
Unlike the executives at UnitedHealthcare, I am not a sociopath.
I found it interesting that Blue Shield of CA sent me a survey recently that included an open-ended question about what health insurance companies in general could do to improve.
I started my honest response with, "Stop being evil."
:) Heaven forbid it follows its contract with its subscribers!