People do not exactly feel warm toward UnitedHealth right now. A year ago, the company’s CEO, Brian Thompson, was shot and killed in Manhattan by a man named Luigi Mangione. When the news broke, the public reaction was cold. Many people openly said they felt no sadness at all.
The killing put a spotlight on UnitedHealth’s history. For years, customers have complained that the company made it extremely hard for them to access medical care. Many said the company cared more about saving money than saving lives. After the assassination, a flood of stories came out from people who had suffered because their claims were denied or delayed.
Now, one year later, UnitedHealth is trying to act like a confident company again. At a major healthcare conference, the company’s chief financial officer, Wayne DeVeydt, said they want to return to what he called their old “swagger.”
But their idea of getting that swagger back has upset people even more. According to Morningstar, the company is planning to drop Medicare Advantage plans that do not make enough profit. They also plan to raise prices by about 26 percent on many Affordable Care Act plans. Instead of fixing problems in their system, they are pushing out the patients who they think cost them too much money. Most of these patients are elderly or low income.
Many people see this as another example of a cruel system. It has even created rare agreement between Democrats and Republicans. Some Democrats want the government to break up UnitedHealth so people can be protected from big insurance companies. Donald Trump also attacked insurance companies on his social media site. He said billions of dollars should be taken away from these companies and sent directly to Americans so they can buy their own healthcare. He said the money should go to the people, not to what he called “fat cat” insurers.
You would think that when both parties agree, something would change. But that is not happening. UnitedHealth is spending more money than ever on lobbying. They are trying to convince people close to Trump to block any new restrictions. And in American politics, it is often very easy for powerful companies to buy influence.
Still, it feels like frustration is rising across the country. More people are saying that the system is broken and that companies like UnitedHealth make it worse. Many believe that for-profit healthcare always leads to pain and unfair treatment. Almost every other developed country avoids this approach for that exact reason.
Some people say maybe UnitedHealth can get its swagger back. But if it does, maybe it should use that swagger to walk straight out of the healthcare system for good.