"We will 'destabilize'
UnitedHealth's ability to enrich themselves at the expense of our
healthcare."
The CEO of America's largest
private insurance company faced a flood of pushback from progressives Tuesday
after he launched a misleading attack on Medicare for All.
UnitedHealth Group CEO David
Wichmann said during a call with investors that Medicare for All would
"destabilize the nation's health system"—a common talking point that
has been deployed by the right-wing
media, Republicans,
and establishment
Democrats.
"And the inherent cost
burden would surely have a severe impact on the economy and jobs—all without
fundamentally increasing access to care," Wichmann said.
Under the Medicare for All
plans introduced in both the House and Senate, every American would be
guaranteed comprehensive health coverage. Two studies released over
the past year—including one from a Koch-funded
think tank—showed single-payer would result in trillions of dollars in
savings compared to the current for-profit system.
"As usual, an insurance
company CEO has got it backward—Medicare for All stabilizes healthcare for
people, as Senator
[Bernie] Sanders said last night on Fox News, and disrupts the
failed business model of the insurance industry," Michael Lighty, founding
fellow of the Sanders Institute, told Common Dreams.
"So yes, we will end the
insurance company denials of care, eliminate premiums, deductibles, and
co-pays, no longer allow our taxes to subsidize their profits," Lighty
said. "We will 'destabilize' UnitedHealth's ability to enrich themselves
at the expense of our healthcare."
Warren Gunnels, Sanders' staff
director, added that
he is not concerned about the feelings of health insurance executives.
"Whether the UnitedHealth
CEO likes it or not, we will no longer tolerate a system allowing him to make
$83.2 million while Americans go bankrupt when they get sick," Gunnels
tweeted. "The greed of UnitedHealth is killing Americans. Together, we
will end it."
Wichmann's comments came as
the stocks of UnitedHealth Group and other insurance giants tumbled to
52-week lows.
"Health insurers
including Anthem Inc., Humana Inc., and Cigna Corp. were down sharply Tuesday
morning, as were hospitals HCA Healthcare Inc. and Community Health Systems
Inc.," Bloomberg reported.
"Health insurance stocks have been rattled in the first few months of 2019
as Democratic presidential contenders have emerged to back variations of
Medicare for All. The sell-off has sent the S&P 500 Managed Care Index to
its lowest level in nearly a year."
Politico's Dan Diamond pointed
out on Twitter that UnitedHealth Group has lost $30 per share since Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced his
Medicare for All bill in the Senate last week.
As Common Dreams reported last
Friday, a whistleblower from UnitedHealthcare—a subsidiary of UnitedHealth
Group—provided a glimpse into the company's behind-the-scenes effort to
undermine Medicare for All as it continues to gain support in Congress.
"We are advocating
heavily and very involved in the conversation," UnitedHealthcare CEO
Steven Nelson said
in remarks leaked to the Washington Post. "Part of it is
trying to be thoughtful about how we enter in the conversation, because there's
a risk of seeming like it's self-serving."
The anonymous whistleblower
told the Post's Jeff Stein he leaked Nelson's comments because he
"felt Americans needed to know exactly who it is that's fighting against
the idea that healthcare is a right, not a privilege."
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