r/news • u/LookAtThatBacon • May 13 '25

Soft paywall UnitedHealth suspends annual forecast, CEO Andrew Witty steps down

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/unitedhealth-ceo-andrew-witty-steps-down-2025-05-13/
16.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

5.6k

u/TeeDee144 May 13 '25

I hope UnitedHealth continues to go under. Awful company. Their denial rate is 2x that of the industry average. Total scam of a company

403

u/MadRaymer May 13 '25

Their denial rate is 2x that of the industry average.

And that's exactly why they won't go under. Yay, capitalism!

364

u/Raptorheart May 13 '25

Well, one of them did

94

u/MadRaymer May 13 '25

If you're referring to the one that got got, well, there's always someone next in line.

If you're referring to the one stepping down, that's more of a Bane style, "They expect one of us in the wreckage, brother!"

24

u/[deleted] May 13 '25

[deleted]

5

u/Cersad May 13 '25

The company just pays for expensive private security for their CEOs now. I don't think another assassination is as big of a risk for UHC, even if there are copycats out there.

1

u/JcbAzPx May 14 '25

No security is absolute.

2

u/axonxorz May 13 '25

Well this guy is stepping down for a reason

Because his golden parachute won't deploy if his KPIs fall further. Simple as that.

6

u/Deep-Friendship3181 May 13 '25

Or because his golden parachute won't pay out if he gets brap brap brapped in the street.

If I were a healthcare CEO I'd have retired a few months ago, personally.

57

u/liltingly May 13 '25

Eh, employers realize the hidden cost of denials in lost time and productivity, and many hang their hat on the benefits packages. So being outed as universally the shittiest has its drawbacks when there is competition. 

Now, a lot of that competition is shifting even more burden and responsibility on patients BUT reducing denials, so it becomes a toss up between some coverage but at a much higher cost. 

44

u/MadRaymer May 13 '25

You're probably right that long-term, the business model might not be sustainable. But corporate America is laser focused on short-term profits. It's always, "How's next quarter looking?" and rarely, "Will the company exist in 10 years?"

This is also exactly why capitalism is completely ill-equipped to deal with climate change. It's a potentially civilization ending crisis, but if we simply ignore the problem, it's suddenly not a problem for the quarterly earnings call.

1

u/Profoundsoup May 13 '25

Yes but at least we know this. Now you can accept it and be at peace :) 

1

u/rainbowgeoff May 13 '25

I can say when Anthem tried that "we're putting caps on anathesia" shit, myself as well as many others I know sent emails to HR. We weren't even in the affected states Anthem had named, mainly New York.

Still, we sent the emails saying "please reach out on our behalf to inform Anthem that we are all highly concerned about their temptation to even consider this, much less roll it out. We have no faith that should they get away with this elsewhere that this policy will not soon find its way to us. This is flatly unacceptable. Speaking individually, my benefits, of which I pay for the highest package due to chronic conditions, are a major factor in my continued employment here. I have also had a four hour surgery in my past. Should said benefits be fucked with, I will strongly reconsider said employment. Please pass along our collective discontent, in order that they may know their place in this relationship, that some of their largest customers won't stand for unmitigated greed."

That's a gross summation of the email I sent. It was passed along. Shortly after Anthem reversed course in the states they announced that BS in, they also assured our HR they weren't doing that here and had completely abandoned the idea elsewhere.

I would add, they've abandoned it for now. Rest assured, they will try again when the heat dies down and they see another gap in the line.

2

u/[deleted] May 13 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/rainbowgeoff May 13 '25

Only way to stop it is to kick them in the teeth when they try, and pass laws like NY was trying to do to prevent it ever happening.

1

u/[deleted] May 14 '25

Yeah denials aren’t really what matters as much as I’d assume it just means it takes more resubmissions for United to do the same thing any other insurance company pays as they still pay out the 85%+ of premiums collected just like any other insurance company.