Fighting for Wealthcare and Against HealthCare –
Leading the Battle is — UnitedHealthcare
“UnitedHealthcare (UHC), the health Insurer whose CEO was murdered earlier this month, has spent decades fighting and winning political battles to maintain the for-profit health system status quo and kill any attempts to reform it. “
https://jacobin.com/2024/12/unitedhealthcare-reform-political-lobbying
https://huntrjay.substack.com/p/how-28-members-of-congress-profited
“UnitedHealthcare has taken a CENTRAL ROLE in beating back efforts to change an often capricious and cruel “Wealthcare” system. Working with other insurers and for-profit health care entities, UHC has marshaled considerable resources — its money, lobbyists, and political connections — to prevent anything approaching the kind of public health care systems that exist in other countries from emerging in the United States”
28 Elected members of Congress ~ essentially equal number of Democrats and Republicans Took campaign money from United Healthcare.
Mere hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi backed off the public option in a 2009 interview with CNN, a top UnitedHealthcare lobbyist sent out an email to various Washington insiders inviting them to a $2,400-per-person “event with Speaker Pelosi at my home.
* A Civil Bribery Law would enforceably outlaw this.
28 Members of Congress Profited Off UnitedHealth
They Owned At Least $4.8 Million of UnitedHealth Group Stock
New Jersey Republican Thomas Kean owned $1.9 million – $6.85 million & made $60k – $201k in capital gains & dividends.
Texas Republican Michael McCaul owned $1 million – $2 million & made $200k – $2mil in capital gains & dividends.
New York Democrat Daniel Goldman owned $565k – $1.15 million & made $16k – $53.5k in capital gains & dividends.
Oklahoma Republican Kevin Hern owned $550k – $1.1 million and made $6.5k – $17.5k in dividends.
3. Potential Conflicts of Interest
Half of the UnitedHealth investors serve on congressional committees with legislative, policy or funding authority over the UnitedHealth’s businesses.
All five senators who invested in UnitedHealth Group have authority over the business in some capacity in their official duties as legislators:
* A Civil Bribery Law would outlaw this.
West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito – the ranking member of the Appropriations health panel
Maine Democrat Susan M. Collins – Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) committee
Maine Independent Angus King – Veterans’ Affairs committee
Nebraska Republican Pete Ricketts – Special Committee on Aging
Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse – Finance’s health care panel
Political Piggy Bank: Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-NE
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The Nine House members who have authority over UnitedHealth’s businesses while holding stock in UnitedHealth are:
Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer – Budget Committee and Ways & Means’ Health panel
Michigan Democrat Debbie Dingell – Energy & Commerce’s Health panel and the coronavirus special panel
Florida Republican C. Scott Franklin – Appropriations’ FDA panel and Veterans’ Affairs Committee
Tennessee Republican Diana Harshbarger – Energy & Commerce’s Health panel
Oklahoma Republican Kevin Hern – Energy & Commerce’s Health panel
Ohio Republican David Joyce – Appropriations Committee
Ohio Democrat Greg Landsman – Veterans’ Affairs Committee
West Virginia Republican Carol Miller – Ways & Means’ Health panel
Washington Republican Dan Newhouse – Appropriations’ FDA panel
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