Did Luigi Save the UnitedHealth Case?

[Passages]

While shutting down dozens of corporate crime probes, the Trump DOJ seems to have jump-started a forever investigation into the mega-insurer’s billing practices.

by Maureen Tkacik March 7, 2025


Valerie O’Meara had been working as a nurse for the Polyclinic in Seattle for over a month before it dawned on her that she actually worked for the risk adjustment department of the health insurance juggernaut UnitedHealth.

A physician had interviewed her for the job. Her employment contract named a gastroenterologist she had never met as the owner and medical director of the practice. But it was a risk adjustment manager Zooming in from Minnesota, where UnitedHealth is based, who told her where to report for duty each morning and increasingly micromanaged her patient visits. “Aren’t you using the QuantaFlo to check if your patients have peripheral artery disease?” the risk adjustment guy would ask. She had never heard of a QuantaFlo, or proactively trying to test random Medicare patients for a condition as obscure and slow-moving as peripheral artery disease (PAD).

“Screening asymptomatic patients for peripheral artery disease is not a thing,” she told him, vaguely annoyed that someone with no apparent clinical experience whatsoever would second-guess her medical judgement. She didn’t realize at the time that it most definitely was a thing, not only at UnitedHealth—which had used QuantaFlo to diagnose more than a million patients with PAD between 2018 and 2021 and billed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services an extra $4 billion over that period for “covering” it—but at pretty much every major national provider of privatized Medicare Advantage insurance plans.

SNIP
But there are signs the unexpected bipartisan outpouring of popular support for Mangione, especially among UnitedHealth policyholders, may have influenced the administration’s decision to play hardball with the health care colossus. Trump backer and hedge fund influencer Bill Ackman posted a long missive detailing his investigation into Dr. Potter’s accusations and the insurer’s smear campaign against her and concluding “there is likely something systemically wrong with this company.” The following week, Elon Musk greeted news of the DOJ investigation with an approving post: “Not that it justifies murder, but maybe Luigi knew something.” Shortly after, Steve Bannon suggested that the crowds lining up to cheer on Mangione in court and even donate to his $652,000 legal defense fund are evidence of “seething anger underneath … a certain part of the population” that “don’t feel like the insurance companies are looking out for their interests.” The administration, Bannon said, should view this as a “flashing red” signal that they needed to look at “alternative models” of health care delivery.
https://prospect.org/health/2025-03-07-did-luigi-save-unitedhealth-case/

[yardwork]

1. I suspect that Trump and Musk want those profits for themselves.

Everything they do makes sense if we view it as their desire to take everybody else's profits - whether gained fairly or not - and force them into their own companies.

It makes sense that they're going after UnitedHealth, a company making obscene profits. Musk and Trump want that money for themselves.

Musk Co isn't doing this out of any desire for fairness. They just see a huge potential of money.

It has nothing to do with Luigi or fairness or legality.

[Passages]

2. We'll see. The details of any "deal" the DOJ makes and or drops the case

will be evidence enough. The important thing to remember here for Democrats is not Trump's DOJ on this case, but the very real, palatable hatred voters of both sides have for the healthcare industry.

Democrats have an opportunity to harness that as we move toward 2026. The leadership has yet to embrace universal healthcare, a dereliction of principle.

[yardwork]

3. I hope the Democratic leaders wake up.

[Passages]

4. Me too. The anxiety it causes many of us is intense.

A strong path forward could help energize that angst for good...so I hope they change or move out of the way.