A ‘Payday Loan’ From a Health Care Behemoth

Alex Shteynshlyuger, a urologist with a practice in New York City, feels surrounded by UnitedHealth Group. He has seen the company gobble up private practices and says it’s slow to pay claims. It also started offering cash-flow services that, Shteynshlyuger says, feel a lot like payday loans.

UnitedHealth Group is the largest employer of physicians in the United States. And it’s growing.

Has the company become too big?

In this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” host Dan Weissmann looks into this “behemoth” company and the obstacles antitrust regulators face in keeping up with its rapid growth.

Dan Weissmann

@danweissmann

Host and producer of “An Arm and a Leg.” Previously, Dan was a staff reporter for Marketplace and Chicago’s WBEZ. His work also appears on All Things Considered, Marketplace, the BBC, 99 Percent Invisible, and Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Credits

Emily Pisacreta
Producer

Adam Raymonda
Audio Wizard

Afi Yellow-Duke
Editor

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Transcript: A ‘Payday Loan’ From a Health Care Behemoth

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“An Arm and a Leg” is a co-production of KFF Health News and Public Road Productions.

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