Hey there. So this is kind of a horror story, but it's not quite the kind of story it might sound like at first, because at first it might sound like a horror story about machines taking over, making all the decisions, and making terrible, horrifying choices, very age of artificial intelligence.

But this is really a story about decisions made by people for money.

It's also kind of a two-fer sequel, like those movies that pit two characters from earlier stories against each other like

you know Godzilla versus King Kong or alien versus predator although in this

case I got to admit the two monsters aren't necessarily fighting each

other let's get reacquainted with them. On one side, coming back from our very last

episode, we've got Medicare Advantage. This is the version of Medicare that's run by

private insurance companies. It's got a bright and appealing side

compared to traditional Medicare, the version of Medicare that's just run by the

federal government, because it costs a lot less month to month month saving people money on premiums and it often comes with extra benefits like dental coverage which traditional Medicare doesn't offer

I know

But Medicare Advantage can have a dark side, which is basically...

Well, you end up dealing with private insurance companies for the rest of your life.

You need something, a test, a procedure, whatever,

they might decide not to cover it, which can be scary. Our other returning monster, am I really calling them a monster? Well, last time we talked

about them in 2023, we had an expert calling them a behemoth, that's United

Health Group. You might remember they're not only one of the biggest

insurance companies and maybe not coincidentally the very biggest provider of

Medicare Advantage plans, they've also got a whole other business under the umbrella name

Optum. And Optum has spent the last bunch of years buying up a gazillion of their health care companies of every kind.

That includes medical practices, so they employ more doctors than anyone else by a huge

margin. It includes surgery centers and home health companies and

...