US Ministry of Justice is investigating United Health for suspected fraud-Diepresse.com
The US Ministry of Justice is examining possible billing manipulations in United Health. On Wall Street, the United Health shares gave up eight percent.
According to a newspaper report, the US authorities are investigating the domestic insurer United Health Group on suspicion of health insurance fraud. The criminal investigation deals with the Medicare Advantage program, which the state health insurance combines with private provision, and is supervised by the Department of Fraud in the healthcare system of the US Ministry of Justice, reported this « Wall Street Journal » (WSJ) People familiar with the matter. The group declared that they have not been notified about the investigation and to be the seriousness of its Medicare Advantage program. A spokesman for the U.S. Ministry of Justice rejected a statement. On Wall Street, the United Health shares gave up eight percent.
The allegations themselves are not new: US Senator Chuck Grassley initiated an investigation in February and in a letter to the group asked for detailed information about its billing practices. The « WSJ » had published a number of reports in which it was described how United Health used the billing rules of the state insurance program Medicare in his favor. Medicare is now to be the focus of the new investigation.
Almost half of the 65 million people secured by Medicare are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans of private insurers. Medicare is the public health insurance of the United States for citizens aged 65 and over or people with disabilities.
Insurers in the crisis
United Health has been under pressure for months. On Tuesday, CEO Andrew Witty surprisingly resigned for personal reasons. The rudder took over the former CEO Stephen Hemsley with immediate effect. At the same time, the company exposed its financial forecast for 2025 with reference to rising costs. A few weeks earlier, United Health had pronounced a winning warning and justified this with a surprisingly strong increase in treatment costs. This can be observed in particular in the context of Medicare Advantage.
In December 2024, the murder shook the entire industry at the United Healthcare boss Brian Thompson. The company’s head of the company’s health insurance division was shot in the New York district of Manhattan on open street. The incident re -lived in public debate about health care in the United States and focused on distrust of health insurance.
At the beginning of 2024, the company was the goal of a cyber attack that paralyzed the billing system for several days. In addition, United Health missed the winning expectations for the first time since the financial crisis in 2008 and lowered his annual forecast. (Reuters)
