Watchdog Group “Raises Serious Red Flags” After Trump Reportedly Puts Private Health Insurance Company In Charge Of Taxpayer COVID Funds For Hospitals

This seriously looks fishy.


645
645 points

In yet another sinister decision by the Trump administration, a private health insurance company has been chosen to distribute billions of taxpayer dollars to hospitals across the nation, raising serious concerns among watchdog groups.

The $30 billion recovery program is meant to help hospitals in need during this pandemic, but while the Department of Health and Human Services would usually be tapped and is fully capable of doling out the funds, Trump is seemingly doing one of his senior economists a favor by letting UnitedHealth oversee it instead.

Politico reports that “Stephen Parente, an economist at the Council of Economic Advisers, is one of the Trump administration officials advising the program, according to three people familiar with his work.”

Parente has strong financial ties to UnitedHealth and did consulting work for the company, all of which derailed his nomination to a post dealing with the health insurance industry.

So it’s suspicious that Trump would pick the private insurer to do work the government would do better at a lower cost. But that’s exactly what Trump did. UnitedHealth insists it is getting nothing out of the partnership, but that may not be true.

The choice of UnitedHealth, a leading health insurer, to serve as a conduit in funneling billions of dollars to hospitals and other providers, surprised many in health care, including employees at the Department of Health and Human Services who had assumed that HHS would administer the program itself. Though UnitedHealth says it will make no profit off of the deal, its role in handing out billions of federal dollars to hospitals could boost its relationships with the White House and the public during a tumultuous year and possibly provide it with valuable health care data, experts say.”

A spokesperson for the Council denies that Parente played any role in Trump’s decision, but it’s par for the course for the Trump administration to deny corruption even when they get caught.

Even former insurance executive Wendell Potter smells a rat.

“I’ve never heard of anything like this,” he said. “The U.S. government pays hospitals all the time. Why would they need to pay a third party — a for-profit insurer?”

Indeed, why?

It should be pointed out that UnitedHealth received a $1 million fee for overseeing the program that Medicare could have done better since it’s accepted by far more hospitals across the country and would have done for far less money.

CREW also expressed concerns.

An investigation into this decision must be undertaken immediately. Perhaps the Government Accountability Office can add that to the long list of audits being prepared to provide oversight of the stimulus package.

The American people deserve answers — and they clearly won’t get them from this White House.

Featured image via screen capture

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