Dear UnitedHealth Group Chief Executive Officer Sir Andrew Witty,

We, the undersigned, demand that UnitedHealth Group and its subsidiaries stop engaging in delays and denials of health care.

We are people impacted by the systemic problem of delays and denials of care who are campaigning to win people the care they need, address the problem at its root cause and win policy change to improve health care.

We take seriously the harm UnitedHealthcare and other UnitedHealth Group subsidiaries cause us, our loved ones and people in our communities.

Delays and denials of care result in suffering for tens of millions of people annually in the form of medical debt, bankruptcy, ongoing sickness or injury, increased stress and lost wages, worsened health outcomes and even premature death. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 1 in 11 adults reported they delayed or went without care because of the cost and nearly 1 in 10 adults (23 million people) owe over $250 in medical debt.

Delays and denials of care are an even greater problem in privatized public programs within Medicaid and Medicare (managed care and Medicare Advantage, respectively). Private health insurance corporations denied claims that otherwise met Medicare coverage rules 18% of the time in Medicare Advantage plans. For privatized Medicaid, UnitedHealthcare denied care an average of 13.6% of the time across states, and one state’s denial rate was an astonishing 27%.

Your corporation is taking public money meant to provide health care for seniors, people with disabilities, and poor people, and is instead using it to pad executive salaries and profits by denying medically necessary care.

Here are just a few examples of UnitedHealth’s profiteering and malfeasance:

● In 2022, UnitedHealthCare CEO, Brian Thompson was paid $9,859,429.
Between the five years of 2018 - 2022, UnitedHealth Group’s CEO Sir Andrew Witty extracted over $90 million in executive and board pay for himself

● UnitedHealth Group took $22.4 billion in profit in 2023 alone. UnitedHealth Group sent $14.8 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends in 2023 alone

● In the first three months of 2024, UnitedHealth Group reported taking $7.9 Billion in profits

● UnitedHealth Group spent $3,102,539 on political contributions and $6,430,000 on lobbying in 2022 alone.

So clearly, you have the money to pay for care for all of your policyholders; you are choosing to divert those funds into profits and excessive executive salaries.

UnitedHealth Group’s profiteering by denying care is a disgrace, leaving people across Minnesota & all of the United States without the care they desperately need. We demand UnitedHealth Group take the following steps to remedy the situation:

● Execute a publicly shared audit and reimburse federal and state governments for the public money diverted by claim and prior-authorization denials within Medicaid (Managed Care), and Medicare (Medicare Advantage)

● Stop the overbilling of Medicare by your corporation’s Medicare Advantage plans & the overbilling of state Medicaid plans by your managed care plans

● Stop denying claims and overturn any existing denials for treatments recommended by medical professionals

● Expedite payment of claims

● Stop denying claims and overturn any existing denials for treatments covered by Medicare/Medicaid rules

● Immediately cease the practice of using Artificial Intelligence and algorithms to initiate claims denials in bulk

● Make public details of denied claims/prior-authorizations by market, plan, state, geography, gender, disability and race

● Disclose monetary value of total denied claims/prior-authorizations broken down by internal and external appeals processes and total percentage of profits taken by denying care for your corporation

● Hold quarterly open microphone meetings with policyholders to discuss problems with your insurance products in each state you sell insurance in just as you hold public meetings with your shareholders to discuss the profits

● Relinquish ownership of and transfer over the claim appeals process to relevant public authorities

● Cease overriding the will of people who need health care by lobbying and donating your members’ money to politicians’ campaigns, PACs and any other entities that can advocate for or against the defeat of elected officials

● Cease using public funds and policyholder premiums for stock buybacks

● Document and publicly release the time and money spent by healthcare professionals and policyholders requesting prior authorizations for treatments that are eventually approved

We demand your timely response to respond to these concerns and negotiate an in-writing explanation of changes you will make in acceptance of the above demands by July 1st.

Sincerely,