How 28 Members of Congress Profited Off UnitedHealth
They Owned At Least $4.8 Million of UnitedHealth Group Stock
Politicians & Profiting Off Of the Health Insurance Industry
28 members of the Index owned UnitedHealth Group ($UNH) stock as reported in their 2022 disclosures, and half of them had authority over UnitedHealth Group’s businesses based on their committee assignments.
UnitedHealth Group is not just a health insurance provider that offers private and Medicare Advantage plans. It also owns Optum which runs a pharmacy benefit manager as well as direct services care like emergency rooms, primary care, etc.
Pharmacy Benefit Managers have been blamed for inflating the costs of prescription drugs and harming consumers by reducing competition and directing them to use pharmacies that are financially connected to them.
1. They held between $4.8 million & $13.4 million of stock
The 28 politicians were all members of Congress and essentially an equal amount of Democrats and Republicans if you count Senator Angus King — an Independent from Maine. In one year, they collectively made at least $298k and as much as $2.3 million in capital gains & dividend income solely from their UnitedHealth investments.
2. UnitedHealth’s Top Investors
New Jersey Republican Thomas Kean owned $1.9 million - $6.85 million & made $60k - $201k in capital gains & dividends.
Texas Republican Michael McCaul owned $1 million - $2 million & made $200k - $2mil in capital gains & dividends.
New York Democrat Daniel Goldman owned $565k - $1.15 million & made $16k - $53.5k in capital gains & dividends.
Oklahoma Republican Kevin Hern owned $550k - $1.1 million and made $6.5k - $17.5k in dividends.
3. Potential Conflicts of Interest
Half of the UnitedHealth investors serve on congressional committees with legislative, policy or funding authority over the UnitedHealth’s businesses.
All five senators who invested in UnitedHealth Group have authority over the business in some capacity in their official duties as legislators:
West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito - the ranking member of the Appropriations health panel
Maine Democrat Susan M. Collins - Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) committee
Maine Independent Angus King - Veterans’ Affairs committee
Nebraska Republican Pete Ricketts - Special Committee on Aging
Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse - Finance’s health care panel
The Nine House members who have authority over UnitedHealth’s businesses while holding stock in UnitedHealth are:
Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer - Budget Committee and Ways & Means’ Health panel
Michigan Democrat Debbie Dingell - Energy & Commerce’s Health panel and the coronavirus special panel
Florida Republican C. Scott Franklin - Appropriations’ FDA panel and Veterans’ Affairs Committee
Tennessee Republican Diana Harshbarger - Energy & Commerce’s Health panel
Oklahoma Republican Kevin Hern - Energy & Commerce’s Health panel
Ohio Republican David Joyce - Appropriations Committee
Ohio Democrat Greg Landsman - Veterans’ Affairs Committee
West Virginia Republican Carol Miller - Ways & Means’ Health panel
Washington Republican Dan Newhouse - Appropriations’ FDA panel
Editorial Note: investments held by their spouses or dependent children were considered in this article as a politicians’ portfolio should include their immediate family as stipulated in their financial disclosure reporting guidelines.