You're Probably Getting Screwed by UnitedHealth Group
The gargantuan eating our healthcare system
Welcome to You’re Probably Getting Screwed, a weekly newsletter and video series from J.D. Scholten and Justin Stofferahn about the Second Gilded Age and the ways economic concentration is putting politics and profits over working people.
Do you know who the largest employer of doctors in the United States is?
An in-depth look at how United uses it’s growing army of doctors.
For more on how United’s acquisition of Change has allowed it to acquire even more providers.
From the American Economic Liberties Project, a toolkit for how state’s can address healthcare consolidation and a paper outlining a “Glass-Steagall for healthcare” that would keep insurers and providers separate.
YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:
Beak Capitalism
In the final episode of Bloomberg’s special three-part series exploring the US economy through the chicken industry, they take a look at market competition and chat with leaders at the Department of Justice. This is worth a listen!
Trump Tariffs
President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to levy hefty tariffs on imports is expected to result in retaliation that hits farmers hard, repeating events of his first term, when Washington spent tens of billions of dollars to ease the pain on the agriculture sector.
If the House farm bill would pass, it would prohibit use of the Commodity Credit Corporation to soften the blow to farmers from those retaliatory tariffs like last time.
Elon - Rigging the Economy
The world’s wealthiest person probably doesn’t have your interest in mind when he starts his new gig. When making the government “more efficient” it will be interesting to see what he does to the agencies as Mr. Musk’s companies are increasingly facing regulatory battles and overlapping federal investigations from all corners of the government. Does anyone see a conflict of interest?
Baby Formula Shortage
Remember the baby formula shortage? To many of us in the anti-monopoly world, it has served as a canary in the coal mine about how vulnerable our economy is when things are so concentrated. Organized Money’s latest podcast episode talks with Laura Modi, CEO of Bobby, about the industry.
Billionaires Influencing the Elections
SOME GOOD NEWS
New Substack Alert
We’re big fans of Claire Kelloway’s work! Claire is the program manager for fair food and farming systems at the Open Markets Institute. We are excited about her new Substack: Food & Power!
New Book Alert
The Patriotic Millionaires have a new book out “Pay the People! Why Fair Pay Is Good For Business and Great for America.”
The Work Continues
While we are anticipating that leading Biden Administration trustbusters like Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan will unfortunately be shown the exit in a Trump Administration, David Dayen at The American Prospect has a good piece reminding us all that state attorneys general remain a powerful bulwark against corporate largesse.
BEFORE YOU GO
Before you go, I need two things from you: 1) if you like something, please share it on social media or the next time you have coffee with a friend. 2) Ideas, if you have any ideas for future newsletter content please comment below. Thank you.
Break ‘Em Up,
Justin Stofferahn
Hi JD. In other healthcare news, look into how Big Insurance as well as venture capitalists are taking over mental health care. It's a rabbit hole and it isn't a happy one. Many solo and small group practices are feeling the pinch, between cuts to reimbursement, clawbacks, and VC-funded companies such as Headway, BetterHelp, Alma, etc and on and on---using unethical practices to shunt referrals away from solo practitioners to their own, underpaid 1099 contracted workers. At a time when we have shortages of quality mental health practitioners coupled with an ever-increasing need for care, this is inexcusable.