Comment by NickC25
3 days ago
UHC double-dips because they own Optum even though Optum is "independent". It's fucking disgusting. How they were allowed to buy Optum and didn't have every regulator in the country on the case is beyond me.
I $truggle to think how $omething like thi$ wa$ allowed to happen.
Bastards.
My wife had to quit seeing her doctor of many years a couple of years ago because as Optum has been devouring practices in our area, they stuck her with a surprise bill almost a decade ago and then fired her as a patient without providing even a statement. Now that they own her doctor she can no longer go to that practice even though she was a paying patient for many years.
> fired her as a patient
This is the most absurd set of words I've read in a while.
You have that a little mixed up. Both UnitedHealthcare (UHC) and Optum are subsidiaries of UnitedHealth Group (UHG). UHC never bought Optum. Some parts of Optum were spun out of UHC's IT department so that they could commercialize software they had developed for internal use and sell it to other customers (including some of UHC's competitors in the commercial payer space). Other parts of Optum were acquired or created internally. What is now OptumRx (the PBM) was originally PacifiCare Health Systems. UHG acquired that business way back in 2005 before the Optum brand even existed.
I agree that more reform and enforcement is needed in the healthcare industry but let's at least get the facts and history right.