Can you remember awhile back when the CEO of United Healthcare was shot on the streets of NYC?

Well United Healthcare is not through with being the target of investigation….

It seems that the insurance giant may have committed Medicare fraud….(was this on the list of fraud that Elmo had compiled?)

UnitedHealth Group is facing another government investigation, this one reportedly centered on possible criminal Medicare fraud. Since at least last summer, the Justice Department has been investigating the health insurance company for fraud related to its Medicare Advantage business, reports the Wall Street Journal. Medicare Advantage insurers receive extra payment for covering especially sick patients, meaning there’s an incentive to document patients’ diagnoses. Previous reporting by the Journal revealed “questionable diagnoses by UnitedHealth added billions to taxpayers’ costs,” the outlet notes.

Earlier reports described a DOJ civil fraud investigation related to UnitedHealth’s Medicare billing practices. In a statement, UnitedHealth says it wasn’t informed of the “supposed criminal investigation reported” and stands “by the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program,” per Reuters. It previously disputed the Journal‘s reporting as “inaccurate and biased,” saying Medicare Advantage “provides better health outcomes and more affordable healthcare for millions of seniors” than traditional Medicare. But the criminal probe based in New York presents another headache for a company that has seen its stock fall almost 50% in the last month.

The greedy bastards were not deterred by this investigation and continued abusing the people that depended on them for help….

UnitedHealth Group, the healthcare conglomerate facing a criminal investigation over possible Medicare fraud, secretly paid nursing homes thousands of dollars in bonuses to cut hospital transfers for ailing residents, risking patient health while it saved millions, per a Guardian investigation. The outlet identified numerous cases where nursing home residents needed immediate hospital care but failed to receive it after UnitedHealth’s intervention. In one 2019 case out of Washington state, a nursing home resident was showing textbook symptoms of a stroke, indicating immediate hospitalization was needed. But a remote UnitedHealth employee wanted a less-serious condition ruled out first and asked for an update in, not minutes, but four hours.

In a similar case that year, a remote UnitedHealth employee delayed requesting a hospital transfer for a patient with stroke symptoms, forcing facility nurses to bypass the system. It took an hour and the patient suffered permanent brain damage, per the Guardian. Other UnitedHealth nurses say they faced pressure to persuade Medicare Advantage members to adopt “do not resuscitate” orders—an effort to prevent costly hospital stays—even when the patients had expressed a desire to seek all available treatments.

“A lot of times the [facility] nurses want to send people out and we have to go in and try to stop it,” a UnitedHealth nurse tells the outlet. “And if we don’t … they take us out onto the carpet.” “The sense is: ‘Well, they’re medically frail, and no one lives for ever,'” says another nurse. “No one is truly investigating when a patient suffers harm.” Though internal emails reference “budgets” outlining how many hospital admissions a nursing home had “left,” UnitedHealth denies that its employees prevented hospital transfers or inappropriately pushed patients to change their DNR status. It says nursing homes receive bonuses for preventing unnecessary hospitalizations that are harmful to patients. The company’s shares fell almost 7% Wednesday following the report, per Reuters.

These incidents are disgusting and illustrate just how uncaring these greedy bastards truly are….

Not to worry though the consumer will be protected…..oh wait the Consumer Protection part of government has been mostly shuddered by the Trump administration and DOGE.

What to do now?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”