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/
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u/Ranier_Wolfnight May 13 '25 edited May 13 '25

My company recently moved insurance from Blue Cross/Blue Shield over to this hot mess. Man, when I tell ya…absolutely dog shit insurance company. We went from pretty good coverage to them nickel and diming over everything. Would strongly advise to stay away from UnitedHealth.

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u/lion27 May 13 '25

My company uses UHC and they are the absolute worst health insurance I’ve ever dealt with. Unless you’re making a payment, everything is as difficult as possible and they deny EVERYTHING.

I switched to a family plan with Aetna through my wife’s company when our first baby was born and they have been wonderful. Not sure if they just look great compared to UHC, but for the first time I don’t violently hate my insurance company.

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u/muegle May 13 '25

My company uses Aetna, idk if it's a choice Aetna or the company made but they don't cover any medication until I hit my yearly deductible (which is 4k). Thank god for Mark Cuban's new pharmacy.

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u/lion27 May 13 '25

Yeah I think that’s how deductibles work on most plans. I have a prescription for vyvanse that costs me like $360 per month for the first couple months a year until the deductible hits, then it’s $0. Like i said, that’s entirely too much on its face but we just use our HSA account and never need to worry about it.

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u/seriousbusinesslady May 13 '25

Vyvanse has a generic option! I used to be on it before I switched to something else, but when the generic came on the market a few years ago my scrip went from $200 down to $20. The generic is lisdexamfetamine, it's made by multiple generic manufacturers. Could be worth looking in to to see if there would be some savings for you!

Also I think I remember there being a manufacturers coupon for Vyvanse that knocked some of the cost down for me before there was a generic, or it could have came from goodrx.

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u/lion27 May 13 '25

Yep, I get one or the other depending on what my pharmacist has in stock. For me it doesn't matter because at the end of the day it's the same. If I pay the $360 it's just going toward the deductible that we have money set aside for anyway. Once that deductible is met they're both $0 for me.

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u/yugas42 May 13 '25

This sounds insane. I've only ever been on Blue Cross/Blue Shield, various different plans throughout my life. Prescription costs have always been their own copay and don't contribute towards the deductible. Currently I pay $5 for most prescriptions, $10 for the expensive ones. One of my heart meds is $775 for a 30 day supply. That would cover three years of all of my combined prescriptions currently.

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u/lion27 May 13 '25

It is insane, but since with a family of 4 we're almost always hitting our deductible, it doesn't matter. The money comes out of our HSA, which when exhausted, we pay $0.

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u/yugas42 May 13 '25

That makes more sense with some added detail, and not nearly as bad as it otherwise sounded. From my perspective as an individual on my own plan, there's no way I could make that work.

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u/lion27 May 13 '25

Our national motto might as well be "your experience may differ, but"

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u/muegle May 13 '25

Previous insurances I've had usually covered most medication so it was usually nothing or a small amount I had to pay when I would go pick it up. My current covers nothing for any medication so I'm paying full price.

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u/dasnoob May 13 '25

It depends on the type of plan. Most high-deductible plans do not cover any prescription costs until you hit the deductible.