Some Medicare Advantage’s diagnosing tactics made insurers like UnitedHealthGroup $33 billion richer

Ever since the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year, health insurers have faced heavy scrutiny and heightened resentment from the public. Now a new study might fan those flames. That’s because it found that differential coding patterns between Medicare Advantage (MA) and Traditional Medicare (TM) plans led to MA plans receiving an estimated $33 billion in extra revenue—with $13.9 billion, or 42% of the total, going into the coffers of UnitedHealth Group.

Those findings...