UnitedHealth profit soars 155%

[lindisfarne]

Source: StarTribune

...
Despite a continued drop in commercial members in the recession, UnitedHealth reported Tuesday better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter because of lower administrative costs and strong growth in its public-sector businesses, Medicare and Medicaid.

For the quarter ended June 30, UnitedHealth said net earnings were $859 million -- a 154.9 percent increase from $337 million a year earlier, when earnings were dragged down by big lawsuit settlement costs.
...
Hemsley cited the company's ongoing diversification as a strength. Early this week, UnitedHealth said it was acquiring the northeast subsidiaries of Los Angeles-based Health Net Inc. for about $510 million, bolstering its presence in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Last week, it announced a five-year contract worth $28.1 billion from the Defense Department to manage medical benefits for 3 million active duty and retired military service members and their families in the southern part of the country.

Read more: http://www.startribune.com/business/51360167.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ

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Read article for details.

[Lasher]

1. I have employer-provided insurance with UnitedHealth.

They suck. Bigtime.

[cboy4]

2. Me too

They blow.

[raccoon]

22. I have individual insurance with them. They blow. nt

[the blues]

41. Get this...

We have a (very) small business and through UH, we provide our four employees with insurance. UH jacked up our rates 18% this year to renew without gutting the coverage. 18%. Our losses last year were greater than 18%. S.O.B.'s.

[aquart]

3. Well, sure.

Am I so wrong to want them destroyed? I am mean. I am vengeful. I am not nice. But am I wrong?

[Vinca]

7. No. I bet we could make good money off UnitedHealth voodoo dolls.

[awoke_in_2003]

28. I'd buy one

we have UHC at work. I wish I could get moved to the home office (Amsterdam).

[lexanman]

4. UnitedHealth

united to ripping vets, consumers and the public off. That is the Capitalist way! *barf

There is no better example than UH for single payer.

[we can do it]

14. Rip -Off Retired Firefighters and Police Officers, Too. I Hate Them

I am paying out the ass and they cover NOTHING! Oh it will all go towards my astronomical deductable- TOTAL BULLSHIT

[Lorien]

20. You too, eh? My deductible with them is 6k, with a 20% copay

after that. And I pay $239.00 for this "service".

[wilt the stilt]

5. Don't believe their bullshit

Two things are happening. One is people aren't going to doctors because they can't afford to, so they pay their premium but there are no charges against the policy so that is pure`profit or they are going to catastrophic and there are no charges against those policies. Pure profit either way.

[we can do it]

15. Why Not? They Ream Us with High Premiums and Provide NOTHING

why not believe them

[Dr.Phool]

6. I'm sitting here looking at a $1,500 bill they didn't pay.

On a technicality.

They suck.

[harun]

18. We all are, hence the profit.

[high density]

8. I can't wait to see how much my premiums have gone up during open enrollment in December

Gotta fund these profit margins somehow.

[MGKrebs]

10. Ours went up 17%.

We're looking at other options.

[high density]

13. My company doesn't really give me an honest option

Due to the prices of the one other provider that is offered, everybody ends up shoehorned into the UHC plan.

[MGKrebs]

40. That's just it, isn't it? All this talk about letting the market handle it, we have no choice as it

You take what is offered by your employer or you are screwed. There is no real choice.
And I read today that Blue Cross/Blue Shield is the provider for 75% or Arkansas. That's not competition.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. The Insurance Companies are the problem.

And if they are kept in the loop, the problems will remain. It is that simple.

[No Elephants]

17. Yes, but not the only problem. Hospitals are right in there, too. Please see Reply 16.

[Aragorn]

11. military suicides after return to US

in the population who have returned to the states, and live in the UH coverage area - just try to find a psychiatrist in network, especially in an emergency.

[corpseratemedia]

12. UnitedHealth are P'sOS

They're criminals privately and they're criminals with part D. Big criminals like this deserve prison.

[No Elephants]

16. About four years ago, a visit with a nurse practitioner at my local health center

cost $80. Not totally out of reach for most employed folks, even without health care insurance.

A major hospital (supposedly a not for profit hospital and therefore tax exempt) took over the local health center (also supposedly not for profit) in my town, as well as in a bunch of neighboring towns, giving it something of a monopoly on health facilities in my area (though not on doctor's offices). (It also owns nursing homes.)

Badda boom badda bing, a visit with a nurse practitioner now costs $280, over 3 times as much as it was about 4 years ago. Has your salary more than tripled in the last four years?

Now, here come the insurers. They can afford to pay these tripled amounts being charged by health care providers AND still increase profit by 155%?

And people are afraid of single payer? Give me a break.

The public needs to be educated--and with more than sloganeering--but no one seems willing to really undertake that.

[Javaman]

19. So how are we to get single payer when an insurance corp makes billions in profit?

As much as I want single payer health care, I will believe it when I see it.

I still believe it will be gamed and we, the poor (anyone making under 100,000. I make A LOT less than that) will get the big old screw job.

Obama is speaking tonight on this very subject. I will listen, but it will take a lot of convincing for me to believe that we won't be screwed.

[awoke_in_2003]

29. we won't get single payer...

too much lobbying money out there guaranteeing we wont.

[ProudDad]

30. Read HR676

It's very clear.

Of course, since the business of USAmerica is big business and...

Both the Dems and the pukes are the two-right-wings of the Corporate Big Business Party and Obama's another agent of capitalism...

We won't get it...certainly not this go-around -- we're going to get another corporate bail-out to the insurance mafia and Big Pharma and GE...

[Doctor_J]

21. The CEO was featured in Sicko

in a real democracy he'd have been found rolled up in a rug a week after that movie was released.

[No Elephants]

34. It's not too late!

j/k

[prolesunited]

23. And here is how they are doing it

Michael Napientek of Clarendon Hills was in excruciating pain and needed back surgery. His wife has worked in the health-care field for 30 years and thought she knew how to navigate the insurance bureaucracy.

Before Napientek was wheeled into an operating room Oct. 27, his doctor obtained a preauthorization number. The surgery went well, and within weeks Napientek was feeling much better.

Until April. That's when the couple began receiving a series of letters from the insurance administrator with chilling news: Claims for the surgery had been denied, leaving them on the hook for the heart-stopping total of $148,000.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-tue-problem-insurance-0721jul21,0,5666288.column

Read some of the comments following the article. This is obviously United's SOP.

[OhioChick]

24. Worst insurance I ever had. They fuck everyone over. n/t

[lovuian]

25. OMG that is terrible

:argh:

[rollingrock]

26. How do they make such massive profits?

Hint: It isn't by paying out claims. The ridiculously high deductibles that make your policy with them virtually worthless, even though you're paying out the rear in big monthly premiums. These insurance companies are scam artists, plain and simple.

Bernie Madoff would be proud!



Edit: Notice, that's almost a billion dollar profit in just one QUARTER.

[OhioChick]

27. ACN Group....

UH hired ACN (Group of physicians) whom review every claim and decide whether they're worthy of being paid or not.

http://www.acngroup.com/

[ProudDad]

31. Read HR676 - Universal Health Care for All

It's very clear.

Of course, since the business of USAmerica is big business and...

Both the Dems and the pukes are the two-right-wings of the Corporate Big Business Party and Obama's another agent of capitalism...

We won't get it...certainly not this go-around -- we're going to get another corporate bail-out to the insurance mafia and Big Pharma and GE...

-------

I only hope that the Kucinich amendment stays in and California gets a governor who will SIGN the single-payer act (SB840) that passed and that the SteroidenGroppenFuhrer has vetoed the past two years...

That's how Canada did it -- one "state" at a time... California's ripe...

[AzDar]

32. K & R

:kick:

[bikebloke]

33. Every year, we get a UHC pay cut.

And we get less and less for it. I hadn't used the vision for 3 1/2 years. Before, there was a hefty discount. Now it's not more than change found on the sidewalk.

[dflprincess]

35. Can't New York State do something to stop them from acquiring another company there?

One thing I liked about Elliot Sptizer - when he was New York's AG he seemed to filing lawsuits against UHG all the time for their crooked practices.

[maryf]

36. NYS is looking to get single payer...

that would eliminate all private insurance except for unnecessary procedures!! Same for the national single payer program! Eliminate all profit based on health!

[mwooldri]

37. I call for a windfall tax... to fund the public option starting in 2010.

If they're making money off the public sector... then erm... *puke*. It should be revenue neutral IMO.

Mark.

[KamaAina]

38. "strong growth in its public sector businesses"

Most of our ABD (aged, blind and disabled; blind people aren't disabled? :shrug: ) were pushed out of fee-for-service Medicaid into a managed-care program. You get a choice of two providers -- one of which is a unit of UnitedHealth.

This went into effect in February. Within days, doctors were reporting that patients were showing up in their offices even though they had not signed with the plan. Turns out Evercare (a unit of UnitedHealth), rather than actually build a provider network here, had basically rolled over its existing network of Medicare providers, by sending them a form letter similar to those you get from your credit card company: "Pursuant to Section 18(j) of your Medicare agreement, we are hereby enrolling you in our Medicaid plan as well..."

Needless to say, most of these letters got no farther than an admin assistant's desk. Utter chaos ensued as people tried to figure out whether their doctor was or was not part of their plan.

And that's where their "strong growth in its public sector businesses" is coming from. :grr: :banghead:

edit: all this was the brain (?) child of our repuke governor, basically, Ahh-nuld Lite. :eyes:

[dflprincess]

39. Those campaign "contributions" have really paid off (eom)