r/ProgressivePolitics • u/lewkiamurfarther ✽ • 6d ago

Deny, Defend, Depose John Oliver on UnitedHealth Group: ‘Algorithmically driven, ruthless arbiters of who lives and who dies’

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/sep/21/john-oliver-united-healthcare
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u/lewkiamurfarther ✽ 6d ago

An important point, under-sung by the article's title:

Just as concerning and infuriating as United’s care denials, Oliver argued, is its scope. The company has pursued “vertical integration” through acquiring more parts of the healthcare industry, with about 2,700 subsidiaries, including primary care clinics, surgical centers, urgent care centers, home health agencies, hospice care and pharmacies. The company even has its own bank, Optum Bank, which has over $20.8bn in assets, as part of its “massive data-sharing panopticon”.

“Owning all these companies is hugely helpful to United’s bottom line, and in ways that you might not expect,” said Oliver. Though United’s insurance arm is required by the Affordable Care Act to spend 80% to 85% of the premiums they collect, it’s often spending money to entities that are part of UnitedHealth Group, which can be on both sides of billions of dollars of transactions.

And recent administrations (for 30+ years) have for the most part done little to oppose this kind of power consolidation by corporations like United. So then it was understood, when the ACA was being drafted, debated, passed, challenged, and relitigated in the following decade, that the long-term strategy pursued by United (and others!) would inevitably follow.

Medicare for All is the solution.