Sick, Tired and Mad as Hell: We Demand an End to Care Denials at United's HQ

“What is our goal in being here today?” Mindy Salango from West Virginia Citizen Action Group asked the hundred protesters who took over the lobby of UnitedHealth Group (UHG)’s headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minnesota on April 16. “That’s simple! We’re here to demand action and accountability. We are here to demand your unscrupulous practice of denying care and medications to patients you serve ends now.”

Mindy, like me, is fed up. We both risked arrest at United’s headquarters alongside People’s Action members from all across the country and Minnesota doctors, nurses and people who need care.

Every one of us is sick and tired of seeing friends and family in pain because private health insurers deny care. As long as their profits rise, these massive companies don’t care when they make policyholders wait, go broke, or die. That makes us mad as hell.

“I don’t want to die!” shouted Jenn Coffey, a member of Rights and Democracy in New Hampshire. “I’ve spent the last six months begging you for an infusion for the most painful disease known to modern medicine… Last year, when United was celebrating billions in profits, I was selling the last of my belongings that had any value. Now I’m standing in your lobby. UnitedHealthcare, do you hear me now?”

Jenn is a former EMT and two-time Republican state representative who was forced out of work by breast cancer. She suffers from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CPRS) and has repeatedly been denied care by her so-called Medicare Advantage plan, which is administered by UnitedHealth.

Jenn’s policy is one of the growing number of health plans paid for with public funds yet managed by United and other private companies. Private insurers love these deals, which get them guaranteed income from our tax dollars. They then deny care to divert these public funds into their pockets.

“How can we call ourselves a civilized society when we treat health care, not as a basic right, but instead as a commodity to be bought and sold?” said Dr. Dave Dvorak, a Minnesota emergency-room doctor. “While the insurance executives in this building are rewarded with eight-figure salaries, they play no role in the actual delivery of health care. I have never seen any of them set foot in a hospital or get within a hundred yards of a suffering patient.”

At United’s HQ, we paraded a coffin through the lobby, then staged a “die-in” to remind people that every delay or denial of care carries a real, human cost. We placed denial letters in the coffin, each one representing the toll they take on our lives and the lives of loved ones.

We presented this letter to Sir Andrew Witty, United’s chief executive officer, which includes the following demands, among others:

• Stop denying claims and overturn any existing denials for treatments recommended by medical professionals

• Execute a publicly shared audit and reimburse federal and state governments for the public money diverted by claim and prior-authorization denials within Medicaid (Managed Care), and Medicare (Medicare Advantage)

• Stop the overbilling of Medicare by your corporation’s Medicare Advantage plans & the overbilling of state Medicaid plans by your managed care plans

Sir Andrew didn’t come down to greet us. He was too busy, apparently, celebrating UHG’s nearly $8 billion in first-quarter profits, which he announced that morning on an earnings call with investors.

We're not the only ones Witty ignores. He also blew off a request from Congress to testify about the harms caused by a February cyberattack on a UHG subsidiary, Change Healthcare, which processes $1.5 trillion in online health claims every year. Seventy-four percent of hospitals reported direct impacts to patient care during this outage, as many providers stopped processing or switched to paper claims, which can take six months to approve. For Witty and United, this was just another day at the office - another opportunity to collect premiums while they delay and deny care.

We did meet, however, with Jennifer Smoter, UHG’s Chief Communications Officer, who came down to talk - but only after we blocked the entrances to their offices. After negotiations, Smoter committed to set up a meeting with UHG’s senior leadership.

Witty has now changed his tune about meeting with Congress, after several lawmakers called for a subpoena. He is now scheduled to testify to Congress next week about the outage. 

And we are glad United now says they want to hear the stories of our members who have been directly harmed by their denials of care. We look forward to meeting with their executives. Yet we won’t let them, or other private insurers, off the hook. They need to take concrete steps to end claim denials and the harms they cause.

And if it takes a subpoena - or a people’s subpoena - to get the answers and the care we need, we’ll be happy to serve the papers.

Aija Nemer-Aanerud is Health Care for All Campaign Director for the People's Action Institute