Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

UnitedHealthcare Has Faced Scrutiny Over Denying Claims
New York Times ^

Posted on 12/06/2024 1:10:53 AM PST by Cronos

The company has been accused of using algorithms to deny treatments and refusing coverage of nursing care to stroke patients.

Those practices may face new scrutiny after law enforcement officials said that the bullet casings found at the site of the killing of the UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson on Wednesday appeared to have messages, including the words “deny” and “delay,” written on them. The shooter’s motive and identity still remained unknown on Thursday, and no evidence has emerged that the killer was a UnitedHealthcare customer.

While the words “deny” and “delay” have multiple meanings, they could be a reference to the tactics used by insurers of all kinds to avoid paying claims. The words are so linked to those practices that they were used in the title of a 2010 book probing them, “Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.”

“An insurance company’s greatest expense is what it pays out in claims,” wrote the book’s author, Jay Feinman, an emeritus professor at Rutgers. “If it pays out less in claims, it keeps more in profits.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: California; US: New York
KEYWORDS: california; claims; delaydenydefend; health; insurance; murder; nancypelosi; taylorlorenz; unitedhealthcare
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-55 next last

1 posted on 12/06/2024 1:10:53 AM PST by Cronos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Cronos

My mom had to deal with crap like this with her insurance company. They made here repeatedly fill out and notarize the same form. Finally she contacted a local advocate for seniors and her US representative before they paid out. I have no sympathy for anyone in that industry.


2 posted on 12/06/2024 1:32:41 AM PST by ArcadeQuarters (You can't remove RINOs by voting for them!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ArcadeQuarters

I don’t condone the blowing off of that guy’s head- but I understand it.


3 posted on 12/06/2024 2:30:19 AM PST by Strict9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

Wow, it looks like the UnitedHealthcare business model isn’t insurance, is to taking Other People’s Money and keeping it.


4 posted on 12/06/2024 2:49:53 AM PST by PTBAA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PTBAA

Funny you should mention that...

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/life-insurance/unitedhealthcare-ceo-brian-thompson-killed-in-manhattan-shooting-516651.aspx

Per the above...

“...Before taking the top role at UnitedHealthcare, Thompson managed the company’s government programs, including its Medicare & Retirement and Community & State operations. Earlier, he led UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement as CEO...”


5 posted on 12/06/2024 2:58:11 AM PST by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

Bump for later.


6 posted on 12/06/2024 3:06:54 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("Well, maybe I'm a little rough around the edges; inside a little hollow.” -- Tom Petty, “Rebels”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

You screw people over then do no be surprised at the results...


7 posted on 12/06/2024 3:44:20 AM PST by dpetty121263
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

8 posted on 12/06/2024 4:08:05 AM PST by lightman (Beat the Philly fraud machine the Amish did onest, ja? Nein, zweimal they did already!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PTBAA

Looks like it

Stay away from UHC it seems


9 posted on 12/06/2024 4:29:43 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: lightman

I’m guessing that the assassin wanted
those bullet casings to be found

Those are the exact words, no?


10 posted on 12/06/2024 4:31:20 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: dpetty121263

Yeah that’s true


11 posted on 12/06/2024 4:31:51 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: PTBAA
Insurance, like medicine, is not a benevolent enterprise. It's a business and business is all about the bottom line.

People think physicians go into that business for altruistic reasons. Maybe, some do, but 99.9% do so for financial gain.

They have a right to make money. They do not have the right to defraud the public in order to make money. It's a fine line sometimes.

12 posted on 12/06/2024 4:33:58 AM PST by LouAvul (He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. (2 Sam 23:3))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: PTBAA

Since Nov 9, 2009, when the House passed Obama care. UNH stock is up 20 times, while the S+P 500 is up 4.5 times.

Maybe it was true, you didn’t need to read what was in the bill, to know what was in it.


13 posted on 12/06/2024 4:40:51 AM PST by stateofit
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Cronos
IMG-0914
14 posted on 12/06/2024 4:45:36 AM PST by The Louiswu (Pray for Peace in the world.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ArcadeQuarters

I have similar stories with Cigna Dental.

Five separate standard checkups were not processed right. Two were never paid, despite calls and resending them up to FOUR times.


15 posted on 12/06/2024 4:49:08 AM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

As all of them should.

It’s a stinking shame that the medical community and healthcare industry have been so corrupted that human lives are of no value to them except as a source of income.

A reckoning is well past due and while assassination is not the answer, we can only hope that some good can come out of it in the form of a serious reckoning and housecleaning.


16 posted on 12/06/2024 5:03:25 AM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cronos

They all deny. CIGNA gives nothing without a fight and has gone back and denied paid claims 9 months later. BCBS says if surgery takes longer than they say it should? Then they won’t pay for the anesthesia now. Insurance- health auto home IS A SCAM- which should be obvious-once government mandated you MUST HAVE- scam was inevitable


17 posted on 12/06/2024 5:08:47 AM PST by dkGba
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SaveFerris

Not quite.

According to an article I read, it was ‘Deny,’ ‘defend’ and ‘depose’.

But clearly a message was sent.

I’d guess it’s along the lines of *Keep denying and someone will take matters into their own hands.*

I didn’t know about the book, but stuff is beginning to make a lot more sense.

I’m wondering is someone lost all their savings or a loved one, or both, because of the insurance shenanigans.


18 posted on 12/06/2024 5:08:58 AM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: ArcadeQuarters

You don’t have to have sympathy.

You just need to understand that a healthy, competitive insurance market is a necessity for a capitalist economy.

And that Deep State is paying the public like a violin on this one.


19 posted on 12/06/2024 5:11:03 AM PST by mewzilla (Swing away, Mr. President, swing away!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: metmom

(‘Deny,’ ‘defend’ and ‘depose’.)

I think you’re correct - thanks


20 posted on 12/06/2024 5:11:21 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They id Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-55 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson