UnitedHealth drops thousands of doctors from insurance plans: WSJ
12 hours ago
(Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in recent weeks, leaving many elderly patients unsure whether they need to switch plans to continue seeing their doctors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
The insurer said in October that underfunding of Medicare Advantage plans for the elderly could not be fully offset by the company's other healthcare business. The company also reported spending more healthcare premiums on medical claims in the third quarter, due mainly to government cuts to payments for Medicare Advantage services.
The Journal report said that doctors in at least 10 states were notified of being laid off the plans, some citing "significant changes and pressures in the healthcare environment." According to the notices, the terminations can be appealed within 30 days.
Tyler Mason, a UnitedHealth spokesperson, was not immediately available for comment when reached by Reuters.
The insurer told the WSJ that its provider networks were always changing and that it expected its Medicare Advantage network to be 85 percent to 90 percent of its current size by the end of 2014.
UnitedHealth is participating in about a dozen new state insurance markets that launched on October 1 to offer subsidized health coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul.
The insurer said previously it planned to withdraw from some markets in 2014 because of the government funding cuts.
Another top health insurer, Aetna Inc , also warned in October that it expected slowing growth in 2014 in its Medicare Advantage plans.
(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Peter Cooney)
357 Comments
Dwayne 28 minutes ago
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I know I'm going to suffer…all the middle class will as our healthcare is watered-down and made more expensive so as to give the entitlement class like/kind insurance rather than just improving care for the poor. I know that after working my whole life into my fifties….paying taxes…playing by the rules…I am soon to be moved to the back of the line so that some miscreant who parties all night and sleeps all day and is younger can be put at the front. This is the redistribution of health. But I'm going to enjoy watching all my middle class friends who voted for this bunch as they experience the shock. Thoroughly enjoy it.
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Susan 14 minutes ago
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Yahoo i just getting around to reporting this? What lapdogs. Where were you when $750 million was cut from Medicare to fund Obamacare and the Republicans - who you like to smear - tried to warn of the damage? Yahoo ignored and marginalized, parrotting the Obama and Democrat line. Just as you ridiculed the "Death Panels" until even Howard Dean admitted they existed.
Yahoo, if you hadn't deliberately lied to the American people your company might have a higher market share and value today.
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Bread and Circuses 2 minutes ago
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That's the problem with communism. There is no 'middle class' (a term invented by Karl Marx) in totalitarian societies. There are only the very rich and the very poor, and never the twain shall meet. The rich will not suffer from Obamacare because they can afford to pay their own way. What is left of the American middle class, on the other hand, will be led like cattle to the slaughter to state-run health clinics staffed by foreigners with questionable medical skills. The only way America survives as a constitutional republic is if Obamacare is repealed, pulled up by the roots, and the ground salted so it never takes root again.
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Jackie 1 hour ago
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Of course, this scam by Obama to cut approximately $700 billion from Medicare (mostly targeting Medicare Advantage) in order to fund Obamacare was known by those paying attention at the time. Of course, we were called "racist" and "Un-American" at the time for having the nerve to point out the harm this was going to do to the elderly. But then, we all get to suffer equally under Obamacare, now, in different ways. Share the misery . . . the goal of the Democratic Party.
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allah_speaking 1 hour ago
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How any sane person could ever vote for a Democrat again after this is beyond comprehension. The Democratic Party has done real damage to the lives and health of tens of millions of individuals.
THEY BELONG IN JAIL, not holding public office.
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SIROCK 1 hour ago
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It looks like it's the Dems pushing Granny off the Cliff I guess that TV commercial was wrong.
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BcDfGhJkLmNpQrStVwXyZ 1 hour ago
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After a 4 hour wait in her office, my Welcome to Medicare checkup consisted of taking my height and weight off my driver's license and charging medicare $175 and charging me $150. I called medicare about it but they said I couldn't get ANOTHER check up for two years.
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Gary A 1 hour ago
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Any Obama supporters affected by all this?
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augie dogie 1 hour ago
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John Adams said "all democracies ultimately commit suicide" he was right and this is just the beginning. This is a republic and keep correcting any lame brain that calls us a democracy. In a republic, the people can kill a democracy before it kills us.
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Twan 1 hour ago
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Gee, I sure hope Obama doesn't lose his doctor.
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