Dear UHG... Screw You.
Now that I’m out of this company, let me just say this: my happiness has returned.
My time at UHG/UHC left me with a constant feeling that my moral compass was spinning. I genuinely struggled with working in an environment where financial performance and profit margins could feel so closely connected to decisions involving people’s lives and access to healthcare.
I’ll be completely honest: I was ashamed to tell people where I worked. I wouldn’t proudly tell people I worked for UHG/UHC because, in my experience, this is a company whose decisions can have very real consequences for people’s lives. I spent the last few years actively trying to find a way out.
And here’s what really gets me: I worked for one of the largest health insurers in the country, and even I felt like the coverage was garbage.
I remember during a skip level meeting with HR, the message was essentially, “Just because you work for a health insurance company doesn’t mean we provide affordable healthcare options.”
Let that sink in.
My significant other recently had a serious medical emergency. We initially went to urgent care, where we were told the situation was serious enough that they needed to go to the ER ASAP.
So we did exactly what we were told to do.
We pay a significant amount toward our healthcare coverage, and what do we get? A denied claim.
You work for one of the biggest healthcare companies in the country, pay into the system every paycheck, and then when your significant other has a legitimate medical emergency, follows medical advice, and goes to the ER, you’re still left fighting over whether the care is covered.
At times, the whole thing honestly felt like a scam.
And then there was the culture inside my department.
Layoffs were practically a quarterly event. You were constantly looking over your shoulder because you never knew who was going to be next. One day you’re working alongside someone, and the next day they’re gone. These weren’t just names on a spreadsheet. They were coworkers, friends, and people with families and lives outside of work.
And when positions were eliminated, the work didn’t disappear. It was simply pushed onto the people who remained.
I consistently met expectations, took on additional responsibilities, absorbed work after positions were eliminated, and kept being told that a promotion was coming. After all of that, the reward was essentially a tiny raise and even more work.
You eliminate positions to cut costs, distribute that workload among the people who remain, expect them to continue exceeding expectations, and then act like a few cents more per hour is some tremendous reward.
Seriously?
After the CEO’s death, it was also difficult not to notice that meaningful measures were not really taken to address employee concerns or the issues many employees were raising. That only added to the feeling that employees were ultimately expected to just keep going, regardless of what was happening around them.
And I have to ask: how did Andrew Witty, a British pharmaceutical executive, end up leading one of the largest companies in American healthcare? I understand corporations operate globally and that executive leadership isn’t necessarily tied to nationality, but as someone working inside the American healthcare system, it was something I genuinely questioned, especially when so many of the decisions being made had such a direct impact on American patients, employees, and families.
After nearly a decade in healthcare, I can say with absolute certainty that I will never work for another company like UHG/UHC again, nor will I willingly touch this industry from that side of the table with a ten foot pole.
We need major healthcare reform in this country. We need a system where people can actually access the care they need without constantly worrying about whether they can afford it or whether an insurance company will decide to deny it. I believe universal access to healthcare needs to be part of that conversation.
Whatever UHG/UHC is, that is not it.
And after everything I experienced, I find the system absolutely disgusting.
Healthcare should be about people. When the business side starts making you question whether people or profit comes first, you know it’s time to walk away.
And that’s exactly what I did.
I’m incredibly grateful that I found a new role and a new company. For the first time in years, I can honestly say I’m happy to go to work.
That alone tells me everything I need to know.
My experience is my own, but if I could give one piece of advice to someone considering a job here: pay attention to what the work does to you. No salary, title, or benefits package is worth losing your happiness or compromising your values.