The Nation’s Largest Health Insurer Pressured Its Employees to Fight a Public Option
A newly obtained video shows an executive at UnitedHealth Group, the country’s largest health insurer, opposing a proposed public option bill in Connecticut — and actually pushing employees to lobby against the bill.
The UnitedHealth Group Inc. logo displayed on a smartphone with the stock market information of UnitedHealth Group Inc. in the background. (Igor Golovniov / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images)
Health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group held a webinar to pressure its rank-and-file employees to mobilize against efforts in Connecticut to create a state-level public health insurance option, according to a video of the presentation we obtained.
“It does sound like it’s just an option. But the problem is that it would exist on an unlevel playing field with private insurance,” Mishael Azam, a UnitedHealth Group VP of external affairs, told employees on the February 24 webinar. “The public option really is the path to single-payer, where there is really no private option left.”
Azam slammed the public option proposal for potentially providing Connecticut residents “artificially low premiums.” She encouraged employees to call their legislators and express their concerns about Connecticut’s public option proposal, which is designed to create more insurance competition and reduce health insurance premiums for consumers.
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