UnitedHealthcare health insurance
Ranked 3 of 3 health insurances by recommenders
Some find its coverage mostly fine and claims paid, though denials, long phone waits and appeals are the common complaints.
Some find its coverage mostly fine and claims paid, though denials, long phone waits and appeals are the common complaints.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 23
- approval share
- 18%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Coverage mostly ok overall
“the coverage is mostly ok and some having to manage the refusal bs”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “UnitedHealth pays its own physician groups 17% more than outside ones” Paid claims in full
“after that, they paid for everything.”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “UnitedHealth pays its own physician groups 17% more than outside ones” Removes price negotiation burden
“22% isn't bad to remove the need for me, personally, to negotiate prices for services.”
Comment from 10 Jun 2026 in “Insurers aren't the main villain of the U.S. health care system” Good coverage for some
“But I did have good insurance with United Healthcare.”
Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “My husbands suicide shows theres something very wrong with US insurance industry”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Frequent claim denials
“United denies the most random things, a referral to a specialist, meds for on brand usage”
Comment from 20 Jul 2026 in “My husbands suicide shows theres something very wrong with US insurance industry” “You CHOSE to go with UnitedHealthCare that denies 30% for baseless reasons.”
Comment from 22 Feb 2026 in “CXMT has been offering DDR4 chips at about half the prevailing market rate” “they deny everything and it sucks up enormous amounts of time to appeal”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “UnitedHealth pays its own physician groups 17% more than outside ones” Long phone waits and appeals
“famous for forcing people to spend a lot of time on the phone, waiting on hold or advocating for care”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Private healthcare makes industries less innovative. It's time for change” “I really hate having to argue on the phone with with a poor representative over everything.”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “UnitedHealth pays its own physician groups 17% more than outside ones” “they deny everything and it sucks up enormous amounts of time to appeal”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “UnitedHealth pays its own physician groups 17% more than outside ones” Squeezes doctors and providers
“Once a giant like United gets big enough in a city, say ~40% of the population, they lower the reimbursement rates for independent doctors”
Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “US commercial insurers pay 254% of Medicare for the same hospital procedures” “UNH is for profit through and through, quarterly reports are all that matter, and squeezing subscribers and providers is the result.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “For-profit healthcare is the problem, not (just) private equity” “United has a history of also squeezing organizations by forcing them into pre-payment review”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “US commercial insurers pay 254% of Medicare for the same hospital procedures” Profit over patient care
“UNH is for profit through and through, quarterly reports are all that matter, and squeezing subscribers and providers is the result.”
Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “For-profit healthcare is the problem, not (just) private equity” “an organization that exists soley to make your life so miserable you give up on getting your medication”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “ChatGPT Health Is a Marketplace, Guess Who Is the Product?” “the terrible quality of care they delivered”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Kaiser nurses say AI, workplace surveillance are making their jobs, care worse”
Other health insurances people recommend
The two most recommended other health insurances, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kaiser Permanente health insurance | 17 | 20 | 46% | 8 | — | — |
| Medicare | 13 | 1 | 93% | 6 | — | Approved |
| UnitedHealthcare health insuranceThis page | 5 | 23 | 18% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
28 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“UnitedHealth just raised my monthly premium by 25% for 2026-27”
“You could just delete united healthcare and save bucketloads of money.”
“United Healthcare does exactly this.”
“famous for forcing people to spend a lot of time on the phone, waiting on hold or advocating for care”
“But I did have good insurance with United Healthcare.”
“United denies the most random things, a referral to a specialist, meds for on brand usage”
“the terrible quality of care they delivered”
“The number of paper pushers and executives is sustained by your premium.”
“UNH denies the claims anyway.”
“say NO to United Healthcare”
“22% isn't bad to remove the need for me, personally, to negotiate prices for services.”
“not nearly as many directly anti-patient incentives as United Healthcare et al.”
“It's worth far more than the UnitedHealth PPO”
“they do this with IVF drugs too, and I'm sure with chemotherapy drugs”
“Once a giant like United gets big enough in a city, say ~40% of the population, they lower the reimbursement rates for independent doctors”
“United has a history of also squeezing organizations by forcing them into pre-payment review”
“You CHOSE to go with UnitedHealthCare that denies 30% for baseless reasons.”
“an organization that exists soley to make your life so miserable you give up on getting your medication”
“There’s literally never a time they need to notify me via a push notification on my phone.”
“UNH is for profit through and through, quarterly reports are all that matter, and squeezing subscribers and providers is the result.”
“they deny everything and it sucks up enormous amounts of time to appeal”
“after that, they paid for everything.”
“the coverage is mostly ok and some having to manage the refusal bs”
“I really hate having to argue on the phone with with a poor representative over everything.”
“you'll wonder whether it actually is UHC and their ilk that help make healthcare unaffordable”
“they still seem to fight any claim we file”
“Physicians hate them. Patients hate them.”
“My experience with United Health Care has been terrible.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.