STAT+: Study shows how UnitedHealth uses coding to rake in extra cash from Medicare Advantage
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Health insurers in the private Medicare business<\/a> have a big incentive to diagnose their members with lots of health conditions: The government pays them more money.\u00a0<\/p>\n A new study shows the extent to which the biggest player in that business, UnitedHealth Group<\/a>, stands out from the rest for its prowess at raking in extra cash from that program.<\/p>\n Medicare Advantage insurers pulled in an estimated $33 billion in additional payment from the government in 2021 as a result of these extra diagnoses, or codes, that made their members seem sicker, relative to people in the traditional Medicare program. <\/strong>Almost $14 billion of that, or 42%, went to a single company: UnitedHealth, according to the research, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine<\/a>. Other insurers, like Humana and Aetna, comprised much smaller shares: 19% and 6%, respectively.<\/p>\n Continue to STAT+ to read the full story\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n