Earlier this year, a study published in JAMA Network about Medicare Advantage was based on biased research, research that UnitedHealth’s Optum subsidiary paid for. StatNews reports on the bias of the JAMA Network study and other insurance industry-funded studies.
To begin, independent experts do not have access to complete, accurate or timely data from UnitedHealth. UnitedHealth won’t disclose this data. As a result, it’s hard to study and report on issues with UnitedHealth’s Medicare Advantage plans, all of which are different. Until UnitedHealth discloses this data, no one should trust anything the company or its allies say about the quality of its care.
There’s plenty to be concerned about, when it comes to UnitedHealth’s Medicare Advantage HMOs and PPOs. UnitedHealth covers about 30 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees. Based on independent reports–out of the HHS Office of the Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office etc.–inappropriate denials of care are widespread.
Why does UnitedHealth hide data on the care it provides its Medicare Advantage enrollees? It has the data. It needs the data to maximize its profits.
As for the JAMANetwork study, more than a dozen independent experts found methodological flaws with it. Moreover, the study’s researchers relied on proprietary data that cannot be verified. UnitedHealth effectively engaged a group of its own people to push back against the data showing its failure to meet the needs of its enrollees with costly and complex conditions.
But, lobbyists for UnitedHealth and other Medicare Advantage plans push the misinformation in Congress relentlessly to protect Medicare Advantage, a cash cow for the insurance industry.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- UnitedHealth deprives members of critical rehabilitation care
- UnitedHealth, CVS and Cigna helped fuel opioid crisis
- UnitedHealth care delays, denies and grows ever bigger
- OIG finds widespread inappropriate care denials in Medicare Advantage
- Does UnitedHealth use flawed AI to deny care in Medicare Advantage?
