United Healthcare Punishes Children and Gun Violence

A free public service for a better community

Dec 17, 2024

A Good Day To Advocate for Better Healthcare

If there are subjects you’d like to see or improvements made, please let me know using the comment button below or email me at healthcareadvocacy1@gmail.com.

Videos of these newsletters appear on Youtube on this channel. Let me know what you think.

United Healthcare Punishing Autistic Children

This story is another good reason for Universal Healthcare. ProPublica reports that United Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest and most profitable health insurance companies is removing those who help children with autism. It is not accepting new providers into networks and culling many from existing networks.

United administers Medicaid plans or benefits in about two dozen states and for more than 6 million people, including nearly 10,000 children with autism spectrum disorder. Optum, owned by United and who administers these kinds of claims for United, expects to spend about $290 million for behavior therapy within its Medicaid plans this year, and it anticipates the need increasing, documents show.. The company has calculated that, in some states, their cuts in service could impact more than two-fifths of its behavior therapy provider groups in network and up to 19% of its patients in therapy.

Key opportunities” are outlined in bullets in the company’s documents.

So why the reduction. To manage Medicaid benefits, states often pay private insurers a fixed amount of funds per patient, regardless of the frequency or intensity of services used. When companies spend less than the allotted payment, they are typically allowed to keep some or all of what remains, which federal investigators and experts acknowledge may be incentivizing insurers to limit care.

If the company spends less on Medicaid then they get to keep what they didn’t spend.

P.S. Denying care to make money is a hallmark of private insurance like Medicare Advantage programs which is what all seniors will have if Trump gets his way and privatizes Medicare.

So denying treatment to children with autism is just good business.

ACTION

Let’s let our elected representatives know that private insurance companies are screwing over autistic children to make more money and that Universal Health care can fix that problem too. You can reach them here, https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials.

Or on your cell phone text SIGN PSLITZ to 50409 (RESISTBOT) to send this message. If it is your first time using RESISTBOT it will ask your name, address, phone number and email address to make sure it correctly identifies YOUR representatives. P.S. if it asks about delivery method I always choose email as it is free.

“I am your constituent and I just learned that United Healthcare is cutting back on care for autistic children so they can make more money. United manages Medicaid for many states and they are paid on a per subscriber basis. Money not spent on care is kept as profit. Here is a link to the ProPublica story so you can read about this travesty. https://www.propublica.org/article/unitedhealthcare-insurance-autism-denials-applied-behavior-analysis-medicaid.

I have just had enough of people being screwed by health insurance companies. Universal Healthcare avoids problems like these by being non-profit. Remember that the overhead of commercial insurance healthcare companies is 12% to 20% of claims and that it costs us $400 billion every year according to the Congressional Budget Office.

I want you to start supporting universal healthcare, like HR 3421, or its soon to be introduced replacement and start supporting your constituents, not the insurance companies that are busy denying care to make more money. Thank you.

P.S. Denying care to make money is a hallmark of private insurance like Medicare Advantage programs which is what all seniors will have if Trump gets his way and privatizes Medicare.”

School Shooting

This week in Madison Wisconsin another student with a gun killed and injured people at school. No assault weapons.Background checks. No ghost guns. Licensing and training. Liability insurance. The list goes on and on. And we, as a society, do nothing and so the problem gets worse. 50,000 dead every year. DO SOMETHING.

ACTION

There are people whose sole focus is ending gun violence. Everytown for gun safety is one group of such people.

Here is their page of easy to take actions to reduce gun violence. Please go to that link and take action.

RESOURCES

Find My Elected Officials

Contact State and Federal Representatives - phone and email

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Healthcare Advocacy (Us) Website

Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare - Healthcare Advocacy Reading List

Important Healthcare Resources

League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit

Organizations to Contact

National Nurses United Medicare4All, Physicians for a National Health Program, One Payer States, Healthcare Now

Reproductive Health

NARAL - Pro Choice America

Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion

Planned Parenthood

Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.

United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.

Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.

If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org