A California ballot measure would make it illegal for health insurance companies to deny prescribed care.
Originally called the Luigi Mangione Access to Health Care Act, the measure would ban insurance from delaying or denying procedures if those denials could lead to disability or death.
How Health Insurers Stole $140 Billion a Year- And Stand to Take Even More
Nation of Change Doctors and patients protest UnitedHealth’s record earnings amid patient suffering
Jenn Coffey, a patient battling complex regional pain syndrome, shared her experience of being denied necessary infusions, calling for dignity and a life worth living.
Valley News Column: My fight with United Healthcare
Thirty years ago, I came home to New England with my high school sweetheart and had a beautiful baby boy. We bought a house and planted our flag firmly in the soil of the American Dream.
Work-Bites: United Healthcare’s ‘Sir Andy’ Lampooned on Wall Street!
The show includes protest tape of former New Hampshire EMT Jenn Coffey delivering the United Healthcare’s earnings report in the voice of its highly compensated United Healthcare CEO Sir Andrew Witty—who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2012.
Yahoo! finance: Doctor, patients protest as UnitedHealth announces 2024 profits Protesters stood outside the New York Stock Exchange with a sign that read “UnitedHealth denies care.”
People’s Action: Full Video of Care Over Cost protests United Healthcare’s denials of care at New York Stock Exchange. Patients and doctors speak out about United’s denials of the care we all need.
BBC NEWS: Ms Coffey, 53, from Manchester, New Hampshire, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and later fell ill with complex regional pain syndrome.
Ms Coffey’s illness forced her to stop working as an emergency medical technician. She said she started a crowdfunding drive and had to sell most of her belongings in order to pay for the treatment herself.
“I get to have some normality. I can sit up and paint, or I can enjoy a meal with my family” because of the treatment, she said. “I can have a life that’s worth living.”
MINNETONKA, Minn. — Nearly a dozen people were arrested Monday outside UnitedHealthcare headquarters in the western suburb of the Twin Cities, protesting what they allege is the company’s practice of not paying for care.
Eleven protesters were arrested by Minnetonka police for blocking the street, according to the People’s Action Institute, which helped organize the protest as part of its Care Over Cost campaign.
The campaign says it aims to bring attention to the health insurance company’s “systemic practice of refusing to approve care through prior authorization denials or pay for care through claim denials.”
“Health insurance coverage has expanded in America, but we are finding it is private health insurance corporations themselves that are often the largest barrier for people to receive the care they and their doctor agree they need,” said Aija Nemer-Aanerud, campaign director with the People’s Action Institute.
Nemer-Aanerud said UnitedHealth Group leadership has “refused to acknowledge that prior authorizations and claim denials are a widespread problem.”
A spokesperson for UnitedHealth Group said it has had dialogue with the People’s Action Institute for some time and has shared “member-related issues” that have since been resolved. The spokesperson went on to say the company wants to engage the group for Minnesota-specific cases but the group hasn’t shared any specific issues that haven’t already been resolved.
“The safety and security of our employees is a top priority. We have resolved the member-specific concerns raised by this group and remain open to a constructive dialogue about ensuring access to high-quality, affordable care,” UnitedHealthcare said in a statement.
In February, UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare suffered a cyberattack, costing the company $872 million. CEO Andrew Witty confirmed during a hearing on Capitol Hill in May that UnitedHealth paid a $22 million ransom in the form of bitcoin.
Despite the hit, UnitedHealth Group trounced first-quarter expectations in 2024. The company projected in an earnings report that the cyberattack was expected to cost between $1.3 billion and $1.6 billion over the course of the year.
UnitedHealth said Tuesday its second-quarter net income fell 23% to $4.22 billion as it continued to absorb the impact of the cyberattack, but that still beat Wall Street expectations, according to The Associated Press.
UnitedHealth provides health insurance for more than 47 million people in the United States. It also provides care, pharmacy benefits management and technology services through its Optum segment.
‘Help…I am Trapped in Medicare (Dis)Advantage’
by Jenn | Jun 9, 2024
Jenn Coffey dedicated her life to saving others as an EMT—now she’s become one of the many who find themselves under direct threat from a profit-driven health care industry that makes its money denying necessary care.
My name is Jenn and I am from Manchester, New Hampshire. At one time, I was a fully functioning EMT and holding down multiple jobs at once, one of which was as a State Representative.
I was a Republican and the Vice-Chair of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. For twenty years of my life, I served my community as a medical tech in the hospital, and as an EMT in the field.
I thought we could “fix” healthcare. I believed in trying to create healthcare compacts and proper government controls to ensure that the basics were covered. There was a level of expectation I had that insurance would cover. I was blind to reality. Continue Reading on Work-Bites
“It’s ridiculous and disgusting that an insurance company has the power to tell my doctor: ‘No, you can’t give that patient that, no, you can’t have that drug that might help you live,’” she said. “It’s disgusting that we allow it, and insurance companies do nothing to increase positive outcomes in healthcare. Nothing. All they are is a middleman who gets to make a shit ton of money off of us.” Jenn Coffey
What’s Going On! Moral Monday May 27, 2024 WBAI 99.5 FM New York City
WBAI Moral Monday Labor Radio EMS in crisis Rev Dr Barber & Bob Hennelly @UEMSO_FDNY @fdnyVULCANS PLUS Wendell Potter Marianne Pizzitola @FDNYchic 9/11 WTC & Jenn Coffey, former NH EMS on why Medicare Advantage is neither.
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Senate Finance Committee Hearing, Washington D.C. May 1, 2024
“These corporations do nothing to increase positive outcomes and medical care. So don’t fall for their bullshit.” ~Jenn Coffey
“Prior authorizations don’t make care better they delay it. Prior authorizations deny care, prior authorizations kill people. Prior authorizations are not worth the paper they’re written on.” ~ Jenn Coffey
“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?”
EDEN PRAIRIE, MINNESOTA – APRIL 16: Jenn Coffee and protesters with People’s Action target health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group due to exorbitant health insurance costs and insurance claims denials on April 16, 2024 in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. (Photo by Adam Bettcher/Getty Images for People’s Action Institute)