bobjherman.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Latest Medicare Advantage enrollment data are (finally) out: 3.1% annual growth, lowest growth rate in loooong time. MA has become a saturated market filled w/ criticism over its bloated payment system & care denials. Read to see how big insurers fared: www.statnews.com/2025/02/26/m...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

It wasn't until I had a baby myself that I realized how many ultra-processed foods are out there for young children — puffs, melts, toddler milk, and more. I spoke with experts about how these foods get marketed to parents and the long-term health consequences: www.statnews.com/2025/02/26/u...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

Guess who is the newest disciple of the "Make America Healthy Again" movement? UnitedHealth Group www.statnews.com/2025/02/25/u...

submitted 1 day ago • 1 comment

UnitedHealth Group has been under siege since Brian Thompson’s killing, becoming the poster child of our dysfunctional health system. But it is also pushing back. Read more from @tarabannow.bsky.social, @caseyross.bsky.social, @lizzylawrence.bsky.social, and me. www.statnews.com/2025/02/25/u...

submitted 2 days ago • 1 comment

www.statnews.com/2025/02/24/u...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

New disclosures show Dr. Oz is worth up to ~$300 million. He's pledged to sell insurance, hospital, and pharma stocks + step down from supplement company if confirmed as CMS administrator. www.statnews.com/2025/02/19/d... via @statnews.com

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

Dr. Oz, Trump's pick to run Medicare & Medicaid, is worth at least $86M. He owns stock in UnitedHealth & HCA, among other health care companies, but he pledges to divest. Oh, he also owns a tree trimming company and cattle farm. More from @tarabannow.bsky.social: www.statnews.com/2025/02/19/d...

submitted 8 days ago • 2 comments

The FDA fired the head of medical device safety. Devices already are barely tested, and now this agency is getting even slimmer. Oh, btw, Elon Musk’s company Neuralink has a strained relationship with the device center. Read more from @lizzylawrence.bsky.social: www.statnews.com/2025/02/18/f...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

An excellent @ericboodman.bsky.social story on the human impact of government funding cuts: A thread gets pulled and the rest of the fabric may rip. www.statnews.com/2025/02/18/i...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

Four of my @statnews.com colleagues — @caseyross.bsky.social, @bobjherman.bsky.social, @tarabannow.bsky.social & @lizzylawrence.bsky.social — have won a Polk award for their groundbreaking coverage of UnitedHealth Group. So pleased for them, so proud of them. www.statnews.com/2025/02/17/s...

submitted 10 days ago • 3 comments

New from me: Here it is, everything I know about every change I've been monitoring on data.cdc.gov plus an archive of every file that's been removed or altered. www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/t...

submitted 13 days ago • 4 comments

Just in: HHS Inspector General Christi Grimm, who was fired along with 7 other IGs by Trump last month, said she found out she was fired while driving. She's been aggressively auditing Medicare Advantage. More than 2,000 investigations now in purgatory. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: Medicare Advantage beneficiaries who are suing UnitedHealth Group over allegedly wrongful denials of care that were based on artificial intelligence scored a victory Thursday, as a judge ruled their case could move forward. Could open up discovery. www.statnews.com/2025/02/13/l...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Trump's DOJ recently argued (left image) it should be allowed to delete crucial info from CDC, FDA, & other health agencies because, hey, people can always use the Wayback Machine! The judge who issued a restraining order stopping this purge said that was laughable (right image).

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Breaking: Halt on Trump administration’s cuts to NIH research payments expanded nationwide, not just in certain states. My latest for @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2025/02/11/j...

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

Updates to my and @angusrohan.bsky.social's story! - A federal judge has halted cuts to NIH research payments in 22 states -Another lawsuit was filed this afternoon seeking to halt the research payment cuts nationwide See our @statnews.com for details www.statnews.com/2025/02/10/n...

submitted 16 days ago • 1 comment

Large health care companies like UnitedHealth and HCA are hiring a very specific lobbyist who knows Trump and Republicans very well. www.statnews.com/2025/02/10/u...

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Really thorough profile of Dr. Oz by @tarabannow.bsky.social. The man who may lead Medicare and Medicaid was a heart transplant surgeon, co-authored a seminal article on LVADs, is in a legal dispute with his sister, and made a bundle hawking products on his TV show. www.statnews.com/2025/02/04/d...

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Despite MAHA/RFK claims, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are not among the top recipients of pharmaceutical industry campaign contributions (in fact, in the last decade they've received zero donations from pharma PACs/executives) www.statnews.com/2025/02/03/b...

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

"Consider us a friend," a UnitedHealth doctor says in a TV ad (designed to look like a news segment) encouraging seniors to get annual wellness visits. What goes unsaid: UnitedHealth wants those visits so it can generate lucrative billing codes. www.statnews.com/2025/02/03/m...

submitted 24 days ago • 1 comment

“If the freeze is not stopped, I might lose my house." Some NSF-funded postdocs are having trouble paying rent and credit card bills because their salaries were paused this week, even though the federal funding freeze memo was rescinded. www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/t...

submitted 27 days ago • 289 comments

American workers are really sick right now. Disclosures from big insurers like Cigna point to cancer care (including high use of Keytruda) and heart surgeries. Welcome to the world of stop-loss. It's about to get even more expensive for everyone. www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/c...

submitted 28 days ago • 0 comments

🚨 BREAKING: OMB has just issued a memo rescinding the previous memo freezing all federal financial assistance programs. Full text, per government source:

submitted 29 days ago • 727 comments

The Trump admin: Freezes federal grants, but "mandatory programs like Medicaid and SNAP will continue without pause." Meanwhile, states were locked out of their Medicaid fund accounts. Complete confusion for a program that covers 79 million people. www.statnews.com/2025/01/28/f...

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

New: Here's what we know about today's Medicaid chaos (yes, that's FIVE bylines). www.statnews.com/2025/01/28/f...

submitted 30 days ago • 2 comments

Significant @statnews.com reporting here on RFK Jr. and vaccine strategy by @rachelcohrs.bsky.social @owermohle.bsky.social. Confirmation hearings start tomorrow. www.statnews.com/2025/01/28/r...

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: Inside this week's chaos @ government science agencies -NIH study sections cancelled -ARPA-H "proposers' days" pivot to virtual-only then get cancelled outright -FDA scrubs DEI info — not just re: staff but about representation in clinical trials www.statnews.com/2025/01/24/t...

submitted 33 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: CMS is no longer appealing the case over UnitedHealthcare's downgraded Medicare Advantage star ratings. Just three days ago, CMS said it would appeal. Quick reversal amid Trump admin transition. www.statnews.com/2025/01/24/u...

submitted 34 days ago • 2 comments

Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family that own the company have agreed to a $7.4 billion settlement in principle with 15 states over its role in the opioid crisis.

submitted 35 days ago • 1 comment

Well this was unexpected: John Couris, the CEO of major Florida hospital system, told me "site neutrality makes some sense." Medicare currently pays hospitals a lot more than independent clinics for the same, routine outpatient care, to which he said: www.statnews.com/2025/01/17/j...

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

Good morning from #JPM25, where some companies like Cigna, Centene, Oscar, and Walgreens have dropped out of the conference. www.statnews.com/2025/01/13/j...

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: I spoke with Jonathan Kanter, the Biden administration's top DOJ antitrust official who just left the agency. He's very worried about health care's consolidation and said antitrust needs to consider breaking up big health care conglomerates. www.statnews.com/2025/01/10/a...

submitted 48 days ago • 2 comments

"UPS Healthcare was a $10 billion business at the end of 2023, accounting for about one-tenth of total revenue. The company aims to double that number by 2026 with the help of acquisitions and new business ventures." www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

#JimmyCarter 's post presidency was admirable in so many ways, but especially in relation to the work he did to rid the world of some awful diseases. www.statnews.com/2024/12/29/h...

submitted 59 days ago • 8 comments

"commercial determinants of health"

submitted 60 days ago • 3 comments

Buried during this Christmas week: Aetna sues Radiology Partners, one of the largest radiology practices in the country. Wild allegations of fraudulent billing and abuse of the No Surprises Act's federal arbitration process. www.statnews.com/2024/12/27/a...

submitted 61 days ago • 2 comments

What lies ahead in global health in 2025? I can't tell you if #H5N1 #birdflu is going to trigger a pandemic, but I can tell you a few things I'm going to be watching in the new year. www.statnews.com/2024/12/26/g...

submitted 63 days ago • 14 comments

UnitedHealth is best known as an insurer, but they are deeply involved in many facets of the US health care system. @statnews.com has been investigating their business practices for years. In this video, the reporting team goes in depth about all they’ve learned. youtu.be/B0VJGEv5IGw?...

submitted 65 days ago • 4 comments

Federal and state lawmakers want to curb the increasing market power of UnitedHealth Group, with some even arguing the company needs to be broken up. Read this from Casey Ross, @tarabannow.bsky.social, @lizzylawrence.bsky.social, and me. www.statnews.com/2024/12/23/u...

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

2024 was brutal for the big health insurance conglomerates. @jaspar.bsky.social charted it out: www.statnews.com/2024/12/23/h...

submitted 66 days ago • 1 comment

THREAD: Imagine going through 9 years of chemotherapy only to discover you never had cancer. Anthony Olson doesn’t have to. We have a follow up to the story we published earlier this month about Montana Dr. Thomas C. Weiner, who denies mistreating his patients. bsky.app/profile/davi...

submitted 69 days ago • 19 comments

NEW: Some consider him a fearless truth-teller with a deep respect for science. Others consider him a contrarian for contrarian’s sake, opining on matters for political clout. Which Marty Makary would run the FDA? www.statnews.com/2024/12/17/m...

submitted 72 days ago • 2 comments

North Carolina’s Atrium Health says it will forgive the debts of 11,500 people — less than a week after NBC News reported that the company has aggressively pursued former patients’ medical debts, placing liens on their homes to collect on bills.

submitted 76 days ago • 469 comments

"Most of us cannot even imagine what it costs to provide care in America. We in Portugal don’t want to become the U.S. We are probably more seduced by Holland and Germany." Riveting reporting trip in Portugal from @usha.bsky.social and Crystal Milner. www.statnews.com/2024/12/10/u...

submitted 76 days ago • 0 comments

NEW: After reviewing leaked documents, we have found UnitedHealth is strategically limiting access to a treatment for thousands of children with autism across the country in order to cut costs. Advocates say the company’s strategy may be illegal. www.propublica.org/article/unit... 👇

submitted 76 days ago • 982 comments

Spoke w/ Elisabeth Rosenthal, who along with @mmflint.bsky.social appears to have been mentioned in the UnitedHealthcare CEO killer's manifesto. www.statnews.com/2024/12/11/u...

submitted 78 days ago • 0 comments