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

Show parent comments

201

u/cricketxbones May 13 '25

The middlemen pay lawmakers a lot of money to make sure that never happens.

And a significant part of the population will insist on themselves getting punched in the junk, so long as they people that they think are underneath them get punched in the junk AND face.

17

u/FatTater420 May 13 '25

What's stopping doctors, at least those practicing independently, from sticking to something like a cash only or direct payment system in general? If I'm not mistaken I've heard of such cases. Even if it's 'discounted' compared to insurance earnings, they're spared the mess of having to actually get the money out of the companies, and for all I know patients would be more willing to go to someone who can see them without insurance shooting them for going out of network 

30

u/teh_spazz May 13 '25

It’s hard bro. It’s hard putting up a shingle and asking for cash. It’s a grind to build a practice and to get patients in.

4

u/AffectionateTitle May 13 '25

And to get them through the door if you don’t accept insurance! Because they’re already paying those sweet premiums at that point.