{"id":38280,"date":"2024-12-17T14:42:26","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T22:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=38280"},"modified":"2024-12-17T14:43:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T22:43:08","slug":"health-insurers-gave-120-billion-to-shareholders-while-denying-your-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/17\/health-insurers-gave-120-billion-to-shareholders-while-denying-your-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Insurers Gave $120 Billion To Shareholders While Denying Your Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>December 16, 2024 (editor@levernews.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While they were denying your claims, UnitedHealth and other big insurers were spending big to enrich their executives and top shareholders \u2014 to the tune of a whopping $120 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Also:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>More on health insurers\u2019 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/bb86c267?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\" target=\"_blank\"><u>massive cash grab<\/u><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Yikes, it\u2019s starting to <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/dc10e9c6?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\" target=\"_blank\"><u>feel like 2008<\/u><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Here\u2019s why folks are <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/476c8517?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\" target=\"_blank\"><u>mad as hell<\/u><\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Rock the boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have a target on our backs. Corporate giants, corrupt politicians, corporate media \u2014 they\u2019re all trying to stop us. To ensure they don\u2019t succeed, we need your support.&nbsp;If you are able, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/ed20cd52?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\">become a paid supporter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/bd561791?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\">Upgrade Now &amp; Hold The Powerful Accountable<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Rock the boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By Veronica Riccobene<\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/8373adc8?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-69-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-38281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-69-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-69-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-69-150x84.png 150w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-69-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-69-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-69-250x141.png 250w, https:\/\/occupysf.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/image-69.png 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A photo of pills spilling out of a prescription bottle is overlaid on a $100 bill. (AP Photo\/Mark Lennihan and LM Otero)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Share this article on <\/strong><\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/63ebb14f?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><em><strong>Bluesky<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong>, <\/strong><\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/87fa77a6?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><em><strong>X<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong> and <\/strong><\/em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/061df464?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><em><strong>Facebook<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/31a38200?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><em>View in browser<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As rising health care costs and inadequate insurance coverage leave one in three Americans saddled with medical debt, the nation\u2019s top health insurers have dumped billions into enriching their executives and top shareholders through lucrative stock buybacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All in all, the country\u2019s largest health insurers have invested over $120 billion into repurchasing their own shares since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. These include UnitedHealth Group; Cigna; Elevance Health, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield; and CVS Health, which acquired Aetna in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ecp.yusercontent.com\/mail?url=https%3A%2F%2Flh7-rt.googleusercontent.com%2Fdocsz%2FAD_4nXe8PR3Y62GanCKg3L0YFyPWsXx8L1IMiroh7xhbSmjN3v6UaWoA3TLm07a3wfzngZRfZQCrS8Zxoqp1_--XaLuMRZHHtxBXoRz3eyJWBnc2pSE8fK4I0rfPYFRVZLpg_544nYEH%3Fkey%3DKkbFS9FcAXHO1ZkRhajObGnw&amp;t=1734475004&amp;ymreqid=d41d8cd9-8f00-b204-1ce1-2c213701c600&amp;sig=5aFuuKUz26viBMBLJBGcnQ--~D\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Forty-four percent of buyback expenditures came from UnitedHealth Group, which&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/f40ee0de?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>covers<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;more Americans than any other private health insurer. UnitedHealth has increased its annual share repurchasing program by 217 percent since 2010, dumping a whopping $54 billion into buybacks during that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These companies, along with Kaiser Permanente, a nonprofit health care organization, control over half of the commercial market share of the U.S. health insurance industry. Since 2010, they\u2019ve raked in a combined $9 trillion in revenue, netting more than&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/b2de04e0?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>$371 billion in profits<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, one in four Americans&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/723146fc?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>say<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;they\u2019ve avoided seeking health care in the past year because of the cost. Half of all U.S. adults say they\u2019d be unable to afford an unexpected $500 medical expense, and medical bills&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/b390908a?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>account<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;for 40 percent of U.S. bankruptcies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Major insurers have abandoned patients for shareholder enrichment, according to former health insurance executive-turned-whistleblower Wendell Potter. \u201c[Health insurers] corrupted the concept of managed care and turned it into something that has been really more of managing cost, but also depriving people of the care that they need,\u201d said Potter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Insurers \u201chave figured out how to extract so much money out of what we spend as a nation on health care to reward their shareholders. There\u2019s no other country in the world that has a system like this that enables middlemen to siphon off so much money from middle-class and working-class folks that need health care,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week\u2019s&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/03b7451f?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>assassination<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth Group\u2019s&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/cd8bb196?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>insurance subsidiary<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;UnitedHealthcare, has resulted in an outpouring of anger and frustration toward major health insurers. Nearly two in three Americans now&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/70f93e3b?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>say<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;they believe health care should be the government\u2019s responsibility, according to polling organization Gallup \u2014 the highest amount in a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stock repurchases, like dividends, deliver value to shareholders and overwhelmingly benefit top investors. Corporations can boost share value in a simple game of supply and demand by buying back massive quantities of their own stock from the open market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/643125ef?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\">Donate To The Lever<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Data&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/5d4c0fd2?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>shows<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;buybacks soared after Congressional Republicans and the Trump administration slashed corporations\u2019 tax burden through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Proponents of the Trump tax cuts argued that corporations would reinvest their savings into research and workers \u2014 but instead, buybacks exploded. Goldman Sachs&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/e8d50715?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>estimates<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;corporate buybacks increased 55 percent between 2017 and 2018 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent years, top C-suites across the health care industry have&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/00d35665?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>authorized<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;more spending on stock buybacks than on company research and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe very people we rely on to make investments in the productive capabilities that will increase our shared prosperity are instead devoting most of their companies\u2019 profits to uses that will increase their own prosperity \u2014 with unsurprising results,\u201d&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/65ff878a?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>argued<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;University of Massachusetts economist Bill Lazonick, an expert on financialization, in a 2014&nbsp;<em>Harvard Business Review&nbsp;<\/em>article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since then, corporate buybacks have only grown more common and are&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/ab14b06e?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>on track<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;to surpass $1 trillion annually by 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Executives who authorize large buyback programs are often the ones who stand to personally benefit the most as recipients of lucrative stock awards and options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Financial disclosures from this spring reveal UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty owned more than 292,000 shares in the company\u2019s stock, worth $156 million today. Witty&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/37739ab4?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>took home<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;$23 million in compensation last year, 352 times more than his median employee.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thompson, the slain CEO of UnitedHealthcare, took home $10 million in salary and stock in 2023. Both men are among a group of UnitedHealth executives recently&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/b4b1f6dc?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>sued<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;for securities fraud by pensioners who claim the officers dumped millions in stocks just months before a federal antitrust probe into their company went public.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Longtime Cigna CEO David Cordani, a&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/77a31027?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>public detractor<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;of universal health care, has&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/58a88e1a?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>amassed<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;over 1.2 million shares in the company\u2019s stock \u2014 worth $364 million today, financial records from earlier this year show.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of this February, Elevance Health CEO Gail Boudreaux \u2014 an industry veteran who\u2019s also worked for Aetna and UnitedHealth \u2014&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.levernews.com\/r\/4a53a3f4?m=a711267c-71df-4bae-b107-734ff6081b99\"><u>owned<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;a massive stake in her current employer worth nearly $149 million today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>December 16, 2024 (editor@levernews.com) While they were denying your claims, UnitedHealth and other big insurers were spending big to enrich their executives and top shareholders \u2014 to the tune of a whopping $120 billion. Also: Rock the boat. We have a target on our backs. Corporate giants, corrupt politicians, corporate&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/17\/health-insurers-gave-120-billion-to-shareholders-while-denying-your-claim\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38283,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38280\/revisions\/38283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}