UnitedHealth Used ‘Aggressive’ Medicare Strategy: Senate Report

UnitedHealth Group Inc. used “aggressive strategies” to maximize diagnoses and boost payments for patients on private Medicare health plans, a new Senate report found, adding to pressure on the largest US health insurer.

The health-care conglomerate has a “robust” workforce — augmented by artificial intelligence — to capture diagnoses that drive payments in the Medicare Advantage program, the report from the Senate Judiciary majority staff said. Advantage plans have been dogged by allegations from watchdogs and whistleblowers that they exaggerated how sick their members are to inflate their payments from the government.

UnitedHealth, the largest seller of private Medicare Advantage ...