this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2025
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News

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Summary

Three UnitedHealth-owned companies—HealthMarkets and its subsidiaries—were ordered to pay over $165 million for deceptive practices in Massachusetts between 2012 and 2016.

A Suffolk County judge ruled they violated the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act by misleading consumers into buying unnecessary supplemental insurance, with agents trained to obscure costs.

The penalties include $50.1 million in restitution and $115.1 million in civil penalties, the largest ever under the state’s consumer protection law.

UnitedHealthcare plans to appeal.

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[–] finley@lemm.ee 17 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Oh great, they have to pay a fine that’s a fraction of the profit they make per day. That’ll teach ‘em!

Worst yet, it’s probably tax deductible.

[–] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 points 12 hours ago

0.7% of their 2024 net income btw.

[–] jared@mander.xyz 47 points 13 hours ago

Fuck UnitedHealthcare!

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 42 points 13 hours ago

Luigi did the unambiguously correct thing.

[–] spacecadet@lemm.ee 32 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Didn’t they generate $400billion in revenue? This is barely a rounding error.

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 13 points 12 hours ago

And that's just this quarter... What they made over the course of those 4 years is in the trillions. What they were ordered to pay in restitution was maybe around 0.0025% of their total earnings.

[–] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 33 points 13 hours ago
[–] very_well_lost@lemmy.world 27 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

$165 million

Would you believe this is only 0.04% of UHC's total revenue in 2024? What a wild fucking system we live in that 165 MILLION DOLLARS is just a slap on the wrist...

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 20 points 12 hours ago

And they'll increase premiums across the board by 1% permanently to cover the cost and increase profit. The line must go up.