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Last Thursday, StatNews ran an important story headlined, “Justice Department sues Medicare Advantage insurers and brokers, alleging kickbacks.” The story’s sub-headline named names: “CVS Health, Elevance, and Humana paid brokers to steer people into their MA plans, DOJ says.”

Aetna (CVS Health), Anthem (Elevance), and Humana together account for nearly 40% of the Medicare Advantage market. Also fingered were three brokers: eHealth, GoHealth, and SelectQuote. All six companies are now defendants in the Justice Department’s massive new lawsuit.

The DOJ’s complaint alleged that, between 2016 and 2021, the insurers paid the brokers hundreds of millions of dollars to funnel healthier customers to them, and direct disabled customers to other insurers. The brokers were also bribed to sign people up for the most expensive plans— regardless of what they needed.

An Aetna whistleblower turned over internal messages showing insurance executives knew this practice was risky and likely illegal, but they kept quietly doing it anyway. One broker bragged —in writing— that Aetna was “jazzed” they had reduced disabled enrollees from 25% to 15%. Another admitted that Aetna’s product was “dog sh—t,” but “more money will drive more sales.”

If the Justice Department’s allegations are true, it wasn’t just unethical, but Aetna’s doggy doo violated a whole raft of federal anti-discrimination and anti-kickback laws. If the DOJ proves its case, fines could be in the billions— potentially becoming one of the largest civil health fraud penalties in U.S. history.

During the pandemic, big insurers like these defendants made record profits. For example, since elective and non-covid procedures were mostly canceled, insurers collected full premiums but paid out far less in claims. Indeed, 2020 was one of the most profitable years in history for big health, despite (or because of) the pandemic.

Many insurers cut lucrative deals to handle covid testing logistics, set up virtual care platforms, and manage vaccination data— often double-dipping between generous public reimbursements and internal billing systems. Some billed astronomical “out-of-network” charges to the government for routine covid tests.

Worse, big insurance was instrumental in implementing vaccine mandates through employer group plans and healthcare networks. Some insurers denied certain types claims for unvaccinated covid patients, or even increased premiums for the unvaxxed, especially in large corporate plans— which in turn forced corporations to ratchet up jab mandates trying to control their healthcare costs.

The DOJ’s lawsuit against Aetna, Humana, Elevance, and the major brokers signals a seismic shift in how the federal government is finally —finally!— starting to target the real pandemic profiteers: not just Big Pharma, but also Big Insurance.

Since ObamaCare passed in 2010, the DOJ has given big insurance the kid-glove treatment. The industry became a de facto protected class, benefiting from a political “look the other way” sentiment, since the government needed insurer cooperation to ensure the fragile national healthcare system worked. We know about the ongoing problems because some brave people —like Dr. Oz, who is now the CMS Director— have complained long and bitterly about all the Medicare fraud and corruption.

But now it’s a new day. People are fed up with big insurance. Their decade of gentle DOJ protection —currency for helping prop up the system— is over. The official détente is now collapsing under the weight of fraud, greed, and public fury. This new lawsuit represents the first major DOH push in fifteen years to unwind the insurer-broker kickback racket and bring accountability to the pandemic’s disaster capitalists.

Sacchini, who met Mangione at a Bangkok pub in March, told the publication the accused killer initially talked about video games and Pokemon before veering into a rant about how “effed up” the US health care system is compared to Thailand.

“He couldn’t believe it,” Sacchini said of Mangione’s shock at the low cost of an MRI in the Southeast Asian nation.

I think with any jury, he gets off. That'll send quite a message to the elites.

Of course, the judge will simply over-rule which will show everyone the crap we have for a legal system.

We don't have laws, just ways of doing things. I expect more Luigi's.