Reporter Bob Herman from STAT News unpacks his blockbuster investigation about the country’s biggest health care company.
Covering the American health care system means we tell some scary stories. But this episode is almost like a horror movie.
It’s got some of Hollywood’s favorite tropes: Machines taking over. Monsters from separate franchises meeting face to face in a new movie, like Godzilla and King Kong, or Jason and Freddy. And a couple perceptive folks warning everyone, ”Hey, look, something really bad is happening!”
Those folks are Bob and his STAT News colleague Casey Ross. The monsters are United HealthGroup — a “behemoth” as one expert called them in an episode from last year — and Medicare Advantage, which we looked at in our last episode. And the “machines” belong to United.
Bob describes what some of United’s own employees said about the result: “For some of us, it's creating this moral crisis. Like we know that we are having to listen to an algorithm to essentially kick someone out of a nursing home, even though we know that they can barely walk 20 feet.”
Scary stuff. But Bob and Casey’s reporting has caught the eye of some powerful people in government, and right now, Medicare Advantage plans are on notice from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the U.S. Senate is holding hearings, and the Department of Justice reportedly has an anti-trust investigation in the works.
Here’s a transcript of this episode.
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Sick Note, pt. 2: Dang
Sick Note: Dan has COVID. (He's fine, but ...)
Fighting for the Right to Help
Swimming with sharks
Introducing: Half Vaxxed
Introducing: Last Day
Meet your new rights under the No Surprises Act
2022 update: How to avoid a big bill for your COVID test (feat. Sarah Kliff)
Our Year in Review, with members of the Arm and a Leg team
Why rapid COVID tests are so freaking expensive
Fighting with health insurance is easy (for Jacqueline Fox)
How to avoid the crappiest health insurance.
The Insurance Warrior takes on a $61B Company
Meet the Insurance Warrior
We spend 12 million hours a week on the phone with health insurance
Wait, that was legal until now?!?
"We just kept right on pushing"
The wild backstory of a tiny but crucial Obamacare provision (ft. David Axelrod)
A legendary lawyer sued hospitals for price-gouging their patients. And got his butt handed to him.
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