UnitedHealth's headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Credit: UnitedHealth
UnitedHealth Group is suing the Guardian for defamation after the British newspaper published a story alleging that it had made secret payments to nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers.
“The Guardian knew these accusations were false but published them anyway, brazenly trying to capitalize on the tragic and shocking assassination of UnitedHealthcare’s then-CEO, Brian Thompson, in December 2024,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday in Delaware Superior Court.
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The report was based on reviews of patient and corporate records and interviews with former nursing home and UnitedHealth employees. Under the alleged scenario, UnitedHealth placed its own medical teams in nursing homes and urged them to reduce care expenses for residents it insured. Residents who needed immediate hospital care at times failed to receive it following interventions from UnitedHealth staff members, the story alleged, and at least one person lived with permanent brain damage following his delayed transfer.
UnitedHealth countered that the Guardian quoted internal emails out of context and disputed how medical events were characterized in the story.
“The Guardian knowingly published false and misleading claims about our Institutional Special Needs Program, forcing us to take action to protect the clinician-patient relationship that is crucial for delivering high-quality care,” a UnitedHealth spokesperson told the New York Post. “The Guardian refused to engage with the truth and chose instead to print its predetermined narrative.”
Related: UnitedHealth now facing a 401(k) class action suit, as employees sue for misuse of forfeited funds
The lawsuit termed these actions “unquestionably defamatory,” adding that “the Guardian effectively accuses UnitedHealth of intentionally causing the premature deaths of patients by fraud. Such an accusation could not be more serious. And it could not be more false.”
However, a spokesperson for the Guardian defended the story to the Post.
“The Guardian stands by its deeply sourced, independent reporting, which is based on thousands of corporate and patient records, publicly filed lawsuits, declarations submitted to federal and state agencies, and interviews with more than 20 current and former UnitedHealth employees -- as well as statements and information provided by UnitedHealth itself over several weeks,” he said. “It’s outrageous that in response to factual reporting on the practice of secretly paying nursing homes to reduce hospitalizations for vulnerable patients, UnitedHealth is resorting to wildly misleading claims and intimidation tactics via the courts.”
The lawsuit is only the latest legal action in which UnitedHealth is embroiled. It experienced a large cybersecurity breach last summer, and news broke in May that the company is under investigation for both Medicare Advantage and nursing home fraud.
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Alan Goforth
Alan Goforth is a freelance writer in suburban Kansas City. In addition to freelancing for several publications, he has written a dozen books about sports and other topics.
