Donald Dumb and his greedy corrupt corporate cronies (RFK Jr., Elon Musk, etc.) say they want to privatize Medicare. They want to prohibit government from directly managing health care for seniors and retirees (known as Medicare) and hand it over to filthy private health care insurance companies (known as Medicare Advantage). Why? Donald Dumb's billionnaire friends who own these private companies stand to make lots of money. By replacing government, these companies can do what they please - raise premiums, deny coverage, and cheat wherever possible to increase their profits and satisfy their shareholders.
My own experience has been that dealing with government-managed institutions and agencies - IRS, SSA, Postal Service, etc. - is by far much more transparent with excellent customer service and reliability, not to mention accountability. In contrast, dealing with private companies (phone, insurance, banks, etc.) has always been a source of problems, mediocre service, delays, run-arounds, and endless headaches.
Remember the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis? A systemic financial crash that was caused by private financial banks basically betting with people's money and taking high-risk mortgage loans, which led to widespread defaults and foreclosures when housing prices fell. This crisis contributed to the global financial crisis and resulted in severe economic downturns, including the Great Recession. That was a collapse of the private financial system, which was rescued - guess by whom? - by the government and taxpayers money. This was a prime example of the victims of greedy criminals coming to the rescue of the criminals. This is what Donald Dumb is trying to do: Hand over fine public institutions to criminal and corrupt private entities whose sole concern is to make money and NOT to provide reliable service.
Remember also: Government bureaucrats are appointed by elected representatives of the people, while private company bureaucrats are untouchable. Citizens can ultimately hold government and its institutions accountable and replace them at every election cycle. They can't do that with private companies which often are shielded from accountability by a mountain of bureaucratic obstacles, including denial of information, a much delayed justice system, and a mafia of expensive attorney services.
Yet, the money-based, morally-impaired culture in the US has been to brainwash a captive and dumb American public into believeing that anything from and by the government is bad, while everything private is golden. How can that be when I vote for the government, but I don't vote for private capitalists?
Below is one example of a highly corrupt healthcare insurance company that has been defrauding Medicare itself. The rage at this company was so pervasive that it led to a disgruntled client of the insurance company, one Luigi Mangione, to assassinate the CEO of the company in broad daylight in New York City.
If United Healthcare (the company in question below) is shut down, can you imagine what will happen to its millions of customers? They will have to look around for another company with a whole set of new conditions, terms and costs. That is why Americans spend most of their lives calculating everything from retirement to health care to insurance to taxes... That is why the US ranks way behind in the worldwide index of happiness: They have no time for real life.
Advertisement companies bombard Americans with all sorts of stuff that they either don't need or shouldn't really worry about. There is no keeping up with all the new drugs that are advertised targeting seniors: New diseases with new acronyms are declared dangerous, and new drugs for every little thing are claimed to repair your "damaged life", while enumerating at supersonic speed all the drugs' side effects that often sound by far more dangerous than the new disease itself. But, the commercial says, "ask your doctor if this friggin' new drug is right for you". Next time I go to see the doctor, I will have a small booklet with me listing all the advertised drugs, their diseases, and their side effects and have a three-hour meeting with my doctor to discuss everyone of them.
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One of America’s biggest companies is imploding
Matt Egan, CNN
Thu, May 15, 2025
Andrew Witty, former CEO of UnitedHealth Group. - Jacquelyn Martin/AP
UnitedHealth Group, one of America’s biggest corporations and a member of the exclusive Dow Jones Industrial Average, is suddenly unraveling.
The crisis engulfing UnitedHealth hit a crescendo this week when CEO Andrew Witty stepped down abruptly for “personal reasons.”
UnitedHealth also swiftly abandoned its financial guidance, blaming skyrocketing medical costs.
And then The Wall Street Journal dropped the hammer, revealing that UnitedHealth is under federal criminal investigation for possible Medicare fraud.
The developments have stunned investors, triggering a dramatic loss of confidence. UnitedHealth’s (UNH) stock has lost half its value – a staggering $288 billion – in the span of a month. Its share price plunged on Thursday to its lowest level since April 2020, during the height of the pandemic.
It’s a spectacular reversal of fortunes for one of America’s most powerful companies and the nation’s largest health insurer.
The trouble at UnitedHealth comes almost exactly six months after the murder of Brian Thompson, one of its top executives. The brazen shooting of Thompson, in Midtown Manhattan, captured international attention and surfaced deep public resentment toward the healthcare industry.
The UnitedHealth selloff gathered steam on Thursday, with the Journal report of a federal criminal investigation driving UnitedHealth shares down another 13%, leaving them on track for their worst week since 1998, according to FactSet data.
The DOJ’s healthcare-fraud unit is overseeing an investigation into possible Medicare fraud at UnitedHealth, the Journal reported.
UnitedHealth responded to the report by posting a statement online that described the Journal’s reporting as “deeply irresponsible” because the paper acknowledged the precise nature of the potential criminal allegations is unclear.
“We have not been notified by the Department of Justice of the supposed criminal investigation reported, without official attribution, in the Wall Street Journal today,” UnitedHealth said in the statement. “We stand by the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program.”
The DOJ declined to comment.
‘Astounding’ implosion
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, founder of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute, said the abrupt nature of the CEO transition at UnitedHealth is quite telling.
“The fact the board moved with this much speed means they obviously lost confidence in the CEO. It’s got to be pretty bad if they moved this fast,” Sonnenfeld said. “It’s astounding.”
UnitedHealth described the CEO switch as a decision Witty made “for personal reasons” and the company said he has agreed to serve as a senior adviser. But Sonnenfeld suspects Witty was forced out.
“’Personal reasons’ is the humiliation of this implosion,” he said.
UnitedHealth is turning to a familiar face to clean up the mess: Stephen Hemsley, its former longtime CEO and current chairman.
Hemsley praised Witty for displaying “real integrity and compassion during one of the most difficult periods any company could endure.”
The new CEO also, however, made clear his displeasure with UnitedHealth’s stumbles.
“To all stakeholders, including employees and shareholders, I am deeply disappointed in and apologize for the performance setbacks we have encountered from both external and internal challenges,” Hemsley said during a conference call on Tuesday.
Sonnenfeld hailed the decision by UnitedHealth’s board to bring back Hemsley, who led the company to success between 2006 and 2017.
“He does know where the bodies are buried, and he’s the perfect guy to go to,” he said.
Morgan Stanley analyst Erin Wright agrees, describing Hemsley in a research report as “the most appropriate person to step in as CEO at this juncture in light of the recent setbacks.”
UBS analyst AJ Rice, in a report to clients, praised Hemsley as a “steady hand to lead the company in this turbulent time.”
Hemsley will have his work cut out for him.
Beyond the reported DOJ investigation, UnitedHealth is facing intense scrutiny from multiple parts of the federal government.
In its annual report, UnitedHealth acknowledged the company “has been involved or is currently involved in various governmental investigations, audits and reviews.”
UnitedHealth said these include “routine, regular and special investigations, audits and reviews” by a wide range of agencies, including the DOJ, the Internal Revenue Service, the Labor Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The developments have unnerved investors – especially the decision to abandon 2025 financial guidance.
Bank of America downgraded UnitedHealth from “buy” to “neutral” on Tuesday, warning that it could take years for the company to recover.
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