‘We Are In Mourning’: UnitedHealth Group Won’t Comment on Yet Another Damning Report

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.

An Incomplete Roundup of Recent UHG Bullshit

It's not difficult to find damning reports on Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group, the nation's largest health-care conglomerate. (Well, it is difficult locally, where toady business beats are just now learning about the nightmarish state of U.S. health care.)

There's this disturbing 2022 New York Times feature that shows how UHG surveils health-care workers, compromising patient care in the process; there's this brutal U.S. Senate report from October, which accused UHG of using predictive tech to deny claims; and, out today, there's this ProPublica piece about UHG strategically limiting care to autistic kids.

Interestingly, ProPublica's Jessica Lussenhop added a layer to that latter story, revealing the company's response when pressed for comment. “We are in mourning,” said a spokesperson, who refused to engage with the “non-urgent story during this incredibly difficult moment in time.” Cynical, unaccountable, self-serving, not doing their basic job—this spokesperson landed in the correct industry. Locally based UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as you know, was shot to death last week in Manhattan; the suspected gunman, Luigi Mangione, appears to have been motivated by the previously mentioned nightmarish state of U.S. health care. Why the multinational, publicly traded, $479 billion insurance behemoth that once employed him is crying bereavement leave? We'll leave that to the PR experts.

Elsewhere in the reckoning over UHG: We turn our eyes to the pages of the New York Times.

That's where reliably blockheaded opinion writer Bret Stephens was afforded the opportunity to publish this headline yesterday: "Brian Thompson, Not Luigi Mangione, Is the Real Working-Class Hero." His argument is tedious, stunningly wrongminded, boring, and brazenly selective, though his horny praise of Mangione's "toned physique and bright smile" elicited a chuckle from me. (If you don't laugh, you'll cry.) The Times managed to outdo itself today with the following guest essay from Andrew Witty, CEO of UHG: "The Health Care System Is Flawed. Let’s Fix It." Cue the hot dog costume meme! It's impossible to outdo the top-voted reader comment, which reads, "This is the quintessential CEO statement: not a single actual idea or recommendation, but gets released by the corporate media anyway. To say this doesn't match the moment is putting it mildly." At the moment? Sixty-two percent of Americans believe health coverage should be the responsibility of the U.S. government.

As my colleague Keith reasoned last week: A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is just the U.S. health insurance industry doing its job.

Speaking of Insurance...

You rarely wanna be the glowing red state on a U.S. data map. (Unless, of course, you're Wisconsin, whose feral residents seem content dominating every problem drinking map.)

Minnesota scored that unenviable designation on this new data map from the Wall St. Journal, one that shows which states have seen the largest homeowners-insurance rate spikes since 2023. We're in the 30-42% tier—yikes!

The biggest culprit 'round these parts? Hail. It reportedly accounts for 50% to 80% of thunderstorm-related insured losses. Climate change is making things worse for homeowners, WSJ reports; sky-high premiums that once dinged only "troubled markets" like Florida, Louisiana, and California are beginning to spread across the country, particularly the center of it.

“We’re just putting more things to break where the weather is,” says Neil Alldredge of National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. “If you were a dictator and wanted to move your population to all the most dangerous places, you couldn’t do a better job than we’ve done to ourselves.”

The good news? Just kidding! There is none.

“I don’t expect the property market to soften any time soon... Nobody is ready to bet on a different weather pattern," says Mario Greco of Zurich Insurance.

Perhaps the Rampant Fraud Should Stop?

That's more or less the position outlined today by the Minnesota Reformer's Patrick Coolican.

And it's something elected officials in Minnesota apparently need to hear at louder and louder volumes. This state is home to Feeding Our Future, the $250 million Covid-era nonprofit fraud case, and just yesterday the feds raided two autism treatment centers—one in Minneapolis, one in St. Cloud—whose handling of $9 million in Medicaid payments is being investigated.

“This pisses me off unlike anything else,” Gov. Tim Walz told the Star Tribune, reacting to yesterday's news. “They’re stealing from us… You’ve got to increase the penalty on these crimes. These are crimes against children, in my opinion.”

Concludes Coolican...

We’re all glad [Walz is] firmly on Team Don’t Steal Public Money, but I suspect a four-year prison sentence instead of two is less important as a deterrence than the certainty of getting caught and prosecuted. On this score, state government finally seems to be awakening from a stupor…

Minnesota: Land of opportunity! More like, Minnesota: an easy mark.

The tragedy is that many children do need help, and early intervention is important so they can have a meaningful, dignified life. But successive DFL administrations’ failure to prevent the outrageous theft of hundreds of millions of dollars of public money from various important programs has likely eroded the people’s trust in government.

And who can blame them?

I Could Fix Her!

When the popular Instagram account Cheap Old Houses highlights a Minnesota property, it demands our attention. And yesterday, in a post about the dilapidated $120,000 beauty at 210 E. Wabasha St. in Winona, the account more or less echoed our sentiments: "GOOD GRIEF 🤩🤩🤩." Amen, sister. A four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 2,145-square-foot Victorian from 1890, the home boasts stunning millwork, stained glass, built-ins, and a fireplace. Bring a hammer, however... and just about every other tool in the box.

"While the home needs TLC to recapture its glorious past, important updates have been done, including a newer roof," reads the listing from Jenny Cisewski with Edina Realty. The house, which had been languishing on the market for 162 days, may have benefitted from the Cheap Old Houses bump: It's listed as pending today via Zillow, though not through Edina Realty. Hmm! If you can handle the all-cash requirement, might be worth inquiring—ASAP.