Tag: United Healthcare

Sa’day’s Wandering Political Thoughts

UnitedHealth Cuts Coverage for Autistic Children

So you know, just as a reminder…

The new United Healthcare Group CEO, Andrew Witty, has said that the United States’s healthcare system is ‘flawed’.

“No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did. It’s a patchwork built over decades. Our mission is to help make it work better,” Witty said in a New York Times op-ed published Friday morning, titled “The Health Care System Is Flawed. Let’s Fix It.”

Sure, no one would design a system whereby greedy execs would bow to shareholders and increase profits, stock prices, dividends, and executive bonuses keep increasing their wealth at the cost to the health of the customers who depend on it. That’s why such a system is a rarity in the United States among industries. Yes, that was enriched snark.

Here comes more snark. And, gosh, it must be really hard to fix it. Witty’s predecessor, the late Brian Thompson, had ‘only been with’ United Healthcare for twenty years. As part of his efforts to fixed that flawed system, the company saw profits increase from $12,000,000,000 in 2021 to $16,000,000,000 in 2023, which covers Thompson’s time as CEO.

Naturally, Witty praised Thompson’s efforts to improve healthcare for everyone:

“As Brian Thompson’s family, friends and colleagues mourn his killing, we are bearing a grief and sadness we will carry for the rest of our lives. Grief for the family he leaves behind. And grief for a brilliant, kind man who was working to make healthcare better for everyone,” Witty wrote.

Undoubtably, Thompson’s work work to fixed that flawed service was making progress, judging from the story shared on Diane Ravitch’s blog about the women being denied benefits by the healthcare giant.

I am sure that Witty will carry on Thompson’s ‘good work’. I expect a slow rollout of those improvements, a very, very, very slow rollout.

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Friday’s Wandering Health Thoughts

Went to see my PCP earlier this year. 68 yo, I was dealing with my prostate (on meds for it), edema, hypertension, and mild IBS. Those had been ongoing since I was 65 or so. IBS is gone now, hypertension is responding well to meds and diet. The prostate is the prostate, enlarged but benign.

The appointment was an annual. My PCP is monitoring these things. She ordered blood panels in conjunction with the visit. Give us something to talk about. Well, as a retired military over the age of 68, my healthcare coverage is all gov: Medicare A & B, which I pay for, and Tricare-for-Life. Medicare happily paid their part of the lab work.

Not TFL. They balked. Yes, denied it. Didn’t see the need for it.

Second time I’ve gone through this with TFL. Honestly, they’re as bad as United Healthcare. What’s their motto again? Oh yeah, “Delay, deny, depose.” Guess it’s really the motto for that entire industry. I don’t expect it to get any better under PINO Trump.

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Friday’s Wandering Political Thoughts

So…someone murdered the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.

I don’t applaud it. Violence doesn’t resolve anything. It generally incites more and greater violence. How is that helpful?

But I understand it. I understand the person’s frustration, even though I don’t know their particulars. The murdered man, Brian Thompson, led a healthcare corporation. Tales of despair and frustration circulate about the sick and injured lamenting how they’re treated by those corporations. Brian Thompson’s company had installed AI to help them deny benefits. For those companies, denying claims is how they protect their bottom line, decrease costs, increase profits, push up stock prices, and gain greater wealth. The killer inscribed on a found round, “Deny, defend, depose,” words well known to too many people dealing with the healthcare industry.

My bottom line is, I’m sorry he was murdered. But also, he reaped what he sowed. And, I’m not surprised. I’ve read and heard multiple people vent anger, despair, and frustration with those companies. As a recent example, Anthem BCBS announced in November a controversial decision about paying for anesthesia. It angered anesthesiologists enough that they issued statements decrying what they perceived as a money grab. Last week, in the wake of the shooting. Anthem BCBS announced they’d reversed the new policy.

The shooting wasn’t a complete surprise. In America, where a gun culture prevails and disagreements come to a head with people deciding to shoot others to resolve matters, it was simply a matter of time before something like this happened.

Thoughts and prayers, you know? Sigh.

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