# UnitedHealthcare health insurance

5 Hacker News commenters recommended UnitedHealthcare health insurance and 23 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Some find its coverage mostly fine and claims paid, though denials, long phone waits and appeals are the common complaints.

## Why people recommend it

- Coverage mostly ok overall (1 comments): "the coverage is mostly ok and some having to manage the refusal bs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45807432))
- Paid claims in full (1 comments): "after that, they paid for everything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45807435))
- Removes price negotiation burden (1 comments): "22% isn't bad to remove the need for me, personally, to negotiate prices for services." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48481641))
- Good coverage for some (1 comments): "But I did have good insurance with United Healthcare." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48982876))

## What people warn about

- Frequent claim denials (3 comments): "United denies the most random things, a referral to a specialist, meds for on brand usage" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48982792)) "You CHOSE to go with UnitedHealthCare that denies 30% for baseless reasons." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47111340)) "they deny everything and it sucks up enormous amounts of time to appeal" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45810767))
- Long phone waits and appeals (3 comments): "famous for forcing people to spend a lot of time on the phone, waiting on hold or advocating for care" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49022918)) "I really hate having to argue on the phone with with a poor representative over everything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45807244)) "they deny everything and it sucks up enormous amounts of time to appeal" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45810767))
- Squeezes doctors and providers (3 comments): "Once a giant like United gets big enough in a city, say ~40% of the population, they lower the reimbursement rates for independent doctors" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47406850)) "UNH is for profit through and through, quarterly reports are all that matter, and squeezing subscribers and providers is the result." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45920667)) "United has a history of also squeezing organizations by forcing them into pre-payment review" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47406676))
- Profit over patient care (3 comments): "UNH is for profit through and through, quarterly reports are all that matter, and squeezing subscribers and providers is the result." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45920667)) "an organization that exists soley to make your life so miserable you give up on getting your medication" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46566340)) "the terrible quality of care they delivered" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48953145))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Kaiser Permanente health insurance](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kaiser-permanente.md): 17 recommend
- [Medicare](https://hackerapproved.com/p/medicare.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.uhc.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "UnitedHealthcare health insurance", https://hackerapproved.com/p/unitedhealthcare/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).