Abuses by private insurers affect public programs. On Oct. 7, 2007, the New York Times reported that 91 federal audits showed tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have systematically had their claims improperly denied by private insurers. Audits revealed improper terminations of people with HIV/AIDS; huge backlogs of unprocessed claims and complaints; and failure to answer phone calls from consumers, physicians and pharmacists. Companies audited include UnitedHealth, which services six million Medicare recipients; Humana, with more than 4.5 million; and WellPoint, which owns Blue Cross of California. Problems included UnitedHealth’s improperly denying claims without explanation to beneficiaries; Humana’s not ...   more »