UnitedHealth has turned Medicare Advantage coding into ‘profit-centered strategy,’ Senate report finds Grassley received 50,000 pages of documents from UnitedHealth after STAT investigation

https://www.statnews.com/2026/01/12/unitedhealth-medicare-advantage-coding-profit-strategy-grassley-senate-report/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_rNPMSD33OcJDQgmMJg2KWQBAfyLk-6_W2kfq6rOU8KVpV9gCol3GaxXbNdLs2-ZFNjhU7DI-edpFchRAjGsB7BKjeDQ&_hsmi=398170968&utm_content=398170968&utm_source=hs_email By Bob HermanJan. 12, 2026 Business of Health Care Reporter Senate report calls out UnitedHealth’s ‘profit-centered strategy’ In a 105-page report, the Senate Judiciary Committee outlines how UnitedHealth Group turned its coding of patients in the Medicare Advantage program into “a major profit-centered strategy, which was not the original intent of the program.” The report, released yesterday, is based on 50,000 pages of documents from the conglomerate, which Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) requested last year after my colleagues released their award-winning series on the company, Health Care’s Colossus. The report focuses on an insurance practice called risk adjustment, in which health insurers are paid more to cover sicker members. UnitedHealth has pushed its tactics “to the utmost degree,” the report says. Read more. This series highlights how UnitedHealth Group wields its unrivaled physician empire to boost its profits and expand its influence. Reporters Casey Ross, Lizzy Lawrence, Bob Herman, and Tara Bannow spent months interviewing sources and reviewing documents to deliver this unrivaled look into the biggest and most consequential U.S. health care company. https://www.statnews.com/unitedhealth-group-investigation-health-care-colossus-series/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-99w2AWqid-UozahkySuT88nMsDls4i12kmpjbiCGGCpRix46_3WH8Gwm6In4FuIOCCKtCeloewCTxuXNDlurPQVMjMxw&_hsmi=398170968&utm_content=398170968&utm_source=hs_email