Faceless letters, careless policies

To the editor,

The undated, unsigned letter informing me that as of Aug. 1, 2025, Optum was no longer accepting HealthFirst insurance — which had been my primary health coverage for a very long time — arrived in my mailbox on Aug. 21, 2025.

I later discovered that Optum had emailed HealthFirst policyholders about this change on July 28, 2025. But like many people who receive hundreds of emails each day, I missed it — as I am sure many others did. Even if the letter had arrived in mailboxes that same week, policyholders were given only three days to find a new physician — right in the middle of summer, when many doctors and patients are away. A monolithic corporation of Optum’s size should give weeks of advance notice, not days.

It is equally important that such notices be mailed by post well before a cutoff date, especially for elderly policyholders like myself. The envelope containing your letter bore no postal stamp, so I have no way of knowing when it was actually mailed. What I do know is that it arrived on Thursday, Aug. 21.

Equally troubling was the lack of any individual’s name in the letter — no sign-off from a person with authority or accountability at Optum. Instead, it was closed impersonally with “Sincerely, Optum Medical Care,” as if a “medical care system” can write and send letters. This facelessness highlights the disconnection between corporate leaders and the people they supposedly serve. It also reinforces the well-known fact that the U.S. medical care and insurance system is abominable: We remain the only developed country in the world without universal health insurance. And it reinforces the belief that health insurance executives are motivated solely by the bottom line.

For example, Brian Thompson, the chief executive officer of Optum’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group — who was murdered on Dec. 3, 2024 — received a compensation package worth $10.2 million in 2023. 

UnitedHealth Group, which owns Optum, is the most profitable health-insurance corporation in the United States.

Perhaps if an Optum or UnitedHealth Group executive — or one of their loved ones — were denied necessary care by an anonymous claims’ examiner, they might finally understand the inhumanity of these business practices.

Miriam Levine Helbok