UnitedHealth Under Pressure Over ‘Delaying or Avoiding’ Medical Care

Shareholders of UnitedHealth Group have urged the company’s board of directors to prepare a report examining the effects of its policies that restrict or postpone access to health care on both the company’s brand and the broader economy.

Newsweek contacted the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, the organization through which the shareholders filed the request, for comment via email outside regular working hours.

Why It Matters

UnitedHealthcare is the country’s largest health insurer. On December 4, Brian Thompson, the CEO of its operating division, UnitedHealthcare, was assassinated in New York.

Since Thompson’s death, there has been an outpouring of anger and resentment toward the insurance industry over denied medical claims, with critics arguing that the suspected shooter was justified in his actions.

What To Know

On Wednesday, shareholders announced that they had filed a request asking UnitedHealth Group to prepare a report on the “public health-related costs and macroeconomic risks created by the company’s practices that limit or delay access to healthcare.”

The request said that while certain practices might increase short-term revenue, they could put the company’s brand name at risk and threaten investor portfolios “by increasing consumer debt, jeopardizing health of policyholders and thereby reducing workforce productivity, straining government resources, and risking increased taxes.”

Among the practices mentioned in the request were “authorization requirements that result in delayed or avoided medical care” and “denying patient care to increase profit.”

Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary led the request. Co-filers included Benedictine Sisters of Baltimore, Emmanuel Monastery; Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica; Mercy Investment Services; Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia; Sisters of the Humility of Mary in Ohio; and Trillium Asset Management.

What People Are Saying

Timnit Ghermay, the director of Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment, said on Wednesday in a news release announcing the request: “UNH has been in the media and legislative spotlight for some time given its market dominance, aggressive marketing of Medicare Advantage and questionable use of AI algorithms to deny care to patients. As the tragic murder of UNH’s Brian Thompson made evident, public outrage over the exorbitant costs and restricted access to healthcare has reached a dangerous level in our country.”

Wendell Potter, the president of the Center for Health and Democracy, said in the news release: “The pattern of delays and denials of necessary medical care by UnitedHealth Group and other insurance companies harms more than just the patient themselves.”

UnitedHealth Group said in a statement issued on December 13: “UnitedHealthcare approves and pays about 90 percent of medical claims upon submission. Importantly, of those that require further review, around one-half of one percent are due to medical or clinical reasons. Highly inaccurate and grossly misleading information has been circulated about our company’s treatment of insurance claims.”

What Happens Next

UnitedHealth Group has not publicly commented on the filing, and it remains to be seen whether the company will grant the shareholders’ request and prepare a report.