To continue our series shining the spotlight on bad actors in our broken health care system, today we want to talk about one of the worst: the health insurance industry.
Health insurance companies consistently report BILLIONS of dollars in profits every year — they achieve this by rejecting medical claims and denying care while taking money in the form of premiums, copays, and deductibles from patients.
That’s because in a profit-driven health care system, the #1 goal of these companies isn’t actually to deliver care: it’s to maximize profits.
In 2023 alone, the six largest health insurers produced a combined $47 billion in profits.1 UnitedHealthcare, one of the country’s largest and most profitable health insurance companies, had its most profitable quarter in history at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when millions of people struggled to receive medical care and many nurses and other health care workers were forced to face dangerous working conditions with staffing shortages and inadequate PPE.2
In 2023, United brought in $22.4 billion in profits, which was an 11% increase from the year before. That year, the CEOs of the top six largest health insurers made just under $123 million, with United’s CEO, Andrew Witty, being the highest paid at $23.5 million.3
With increasing record-breaking profits and executive incomes, you would think our health care outcomes would be increasing as well, but you would be wrong. Patients are instead facing more and more obstacles to receiving the care they need. Too often, insurers are underpaying reimbursements to patients and outright denying claims or coverage.
For example, in the second quarter of 2021, Anthem failed to pay 53% of its medical bills amounting to $2.5 billion. In 2023, United announced a new policy requiring prior authorization to cover colonoscopies, a critical method of testing for cancer. After public outrage, they reversed the rule but still required “advance notification” for the procedure.4
According to the American Medical Association, 94% of physicians surveyed said prior authorizations lead to delays in receiving care and 78% said they can lead to treatment abandonment altogether.5 By requiring patients to obtain advance approval before receiving necessary care or medications, health insurers are contributing to worse health outcomes, leading to people staying sick or injured and even dying.
The best way to solve this issue is to get rid of our for-profit system and establish guaranteed health care for every patient, regardless of ability to pay, through Medicare for All. Under this system, private health insurance would be replaced with uniform health care for EVERY patient in the United States. A single-payer system would eliminate premiums, co-pays, and deductibles, while increasing preventative care, improving overall quality of care, saving money, and saving lives.6
As we continue to push our elected officials to pass Medicare for All, there’s work we can do to shine a spotlight on the actions of these greedy companies and hold them accountable. Our friends at People’s Action are working to draw attention to the problem of health insurers stopping people from getting the treatment they need or refusing to pay for treatments people have already received, through their Care Over Cost campaign.
For the last two years, early childhood and special education teacher Robin Ginkel has been requesting insurance coverage for back surgery to treat an injury she suffered while at work, but UnitedHealthcare has denied her time and again, despite their soaring profits.
Right now, Care Over Cost is building public pressure on United to cover Robin’s care. Will you add your name to their petition demanding United put people over profit and cover the care that doctors say Robin and other policyholders need?
Thank you for all you do to fight for health care justice for all.
In solidarity,
Nurses’ Campaign to Win Medicare for All
Sources:
1 - Big payers ranked by 2023 profit
2 - UnitedHealth posts most profitable quarter in its history
3 - UnitedHealth chief Andrew Witty was 2023's highest-paid payer CEO. Here's what his peers earned
4 - Americans suffer when health insurers place profits over people
5 - 2023 AMA Prior Authorization Physician Survey
6 - Q&A: The National Medicare for All debate
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