Wall Street to Insurers: Keep Denying Care

 The Lever-  A health care industry giant’s Wall Street overlords just admitted that the company’s sky-high health insurance coverage denial rates reaped them enormous profits — and to keep the money flowing, they’re suing to stop the insurer from approving more patient care.

UnitedHealth Group has been facing growing discontent from its investors, a battle that — as the corporation faces mounting public scrutiny over its care denials — could shape the future of health insurance for 29 million people.

A May 7 lawsuit brought by a small-time investor in UnitedHealth Group is one of the latest chapters in the battle, arguing that the company’s tanking stock performance this spring had cost its investors unfairly. Some corporate media reports framed the suit as investors taking on the company for its “aggressive, anti-consumer tactics.”

But in reality, court documents reveal, some of UnitedHealth Group’s investors are concerned that the company’s changing “corporate practices” have been too consumer-friendly. And they suggest that these practices are a driving force behind UnitedHealth Group’s disastrous first quarter of 2025, which saw cratering stock value and the departure of longtime CEO Andrew Witty.

UnitedHealth Group has one of the highest denial rates of any major insurer, which can force patients to forgo critical treatment, even under a doctor’s orders. The corporation was one of the first insurers to come under fire for using artificial intelligence tools to deny car