Earlier this week, I reported that, as part of its health care reform advocacy campaign, UnitedHealth Group was directing callers to a UHG hotline to attend an anti-health care reform tea party in Ohio. UHG had sent a letter to its employees, encouraging them to become more involved in the health care reform debate–to attend town hall forums, send letters to members of Congress–and offering to prepare them with guidance and talking points vis-a-vis UHG’s opposition to the public option.
My source–who does not work for UHG–called one of UHG’s so-called advocacy specialists and, in real time, communicated to me that, among other things, he’d been directed to an anti-health care reform rally outside the office of Rep. Zack Space (D-OH)–an event which turned out to be a tea party.
UHG was unavailable for comment on the day our story came out, but, yesterday, denied encouraging employees to attend anti-reform rallies to other news outlets. You can read their entire statement below. Today, I spoke with UHG spokesman John Parker to ask him for further comment. Does UHG believe my source was lying? Or does UHG contend that my source may have been directed to a tea party, but that this would have been a breach of company policy?
Parker had no response, re-directing me to the company’s official statement. In that statement, UHG denies that it has “encouraged employees to attend anti-reform rallies.” But if that’s true, it looks like their policy doesn’t extend to non-employees, including my source, who stands by his story.
Assertions that UnitedHealth Group has encouraged employees to attend anti-reform rallies are completely false and untrue. We have stressed repeatedly that we strongly support bipartisan reform efforts to modernize health care and improve access to quality care on a sustainable basis for all Americans. We have made information available to employees for them to participate, voluntarily, only in publicly-announced Congressional town hall meetings, or to write or call their elected officials. As our CEO wrote to all employees, “We encourage you to continue to lend your practical know-how and point of view to the health care reform debate, as always, in a respectful and collegial manner that elevates the discussion and that is consistent with the social values we hold as a company. Our mission is to help people live healthier lives. To do that, we know we have to listen closely to the people we serve and work together with them…We must remain mindful to bring that same spirit of service, respect and cooperation to this important public discussion.”
We have also provided information to our employees regarding the constructive proposals we have made publicly to help reduce costs and unnecessary administrative spending in order to expand access to care.
The constructive, ongoing engagement of our employees reflects our company’s broader pursuit of bipartisan, sustainable reform that slows the growth of health costs and ensures that every American has access to quality care. We are proud of their efforts.
