United Healthcare Business Model: Less is More
There are few markets where giving the public less of what they want is a way to higher profitability.
Healthcare insurance is one of those markets. United Healthcare receives a set amount of funding for each Medicaid patient they serve,* so the less they pay to healthcare providers, the more they keep in profit.
Obviously this system was set up by people who trusted that healthcare insurers would work in the best interests of the customers they serve …
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… Oh, I’m sorry, I was lying on the floor laughing.
This is no accident. For profit insurance companies wrote the damn rules like a ventriloquist with his hand up the ass of the sock-puppet politicians they bought and paid for. And their ONLY responsibility is to their shareholders.
This ProPublica investigation by Annie Waldman lays it all out:
Leak reveals UnitedHealth strategy to cut critical treatment for kids
Secret Playbook: Leaked documents show that UnitedHealth is aggressively targeting the treatment of thousands of children with autism across the country in an effort to cut costs.
Critical Therapy: Applied behavior analysis has been shown to help kids with autism; many are covered by Medicaid, federal insurance for poor and vulnerable patients.
Legal Questions: Advocates told ProPublica the insurer’s strategy may be violating federal law.
https://www.rawstory.com/annie
*”serve” as in the Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man.“