2025 Top 5 Health Stories: From UnitedHealth tragedy to ‘excess mortality’

UnitedHealth Care is the nation’s largest health insurance provider and the corporation dominated the health news headlines in InsuranceNewsNet’s health news coverage during 2025.

But excess mortality was the biggest health story of the year, as rising claims continued to plague insurers.

InsuranceNewsNet’s Top 5 health articles reflected the challenges of excess mortality as well as coverage on United Healthcare’s lawsuits and elimination of agent commissions

Disability claims skyrocket, raising new puzzle alongside excess mortality

One of the first health news articles posted to InsuranceNewsNet.com in 2025, the news that a baffling rise in post-pandemic mortality rates had insurers stymied, along with a skyrocketing number of Americans claiming disabilities since 2020, added another puzzling factor that could impact corporate bottom lines.

After rising slowly and steadily since the turn of the century and hovering between 25 million and 27 million, the number of disabled among the U.S. population rose nearly 35 percent in the last four years, to an all-time high of 38,844,000 at the end of November, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The CDC and World Health Organization have recognized Long COVID as a contributing factor to rising disability rates. Moreover, the COVID-19 virus has shown to worsen pre-existing chronic conditions, like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune disorders, also leading to increased disability rates.

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UnitedHealthcare eliminating commissions on Medicare drug-plans

UnitedHealthcare dealt another blow to its Medicare agents when it announced it will not pay commissions on Medicare prescription drug plans sold after June 1. The announcement was the latest in a list of carriers who said in late 2024 that they would stop paying commissions on certain Medicare Advantage products.

Agents who are authorized to sell UnitedHealthcare plans were notified by letter May 16 that initial year and renewal year premiums on prescription drug plans would be cut to $0. In November, UnitedHealthcare said it would eliminate agent commissions on 106 of its Medicare Advantage plans.

The announcement came on the heels of UnitedHealth Group’s suspending its 2025 outlook as “care activity continued to accelerate while also broadening to more types of benefit offerings than seen in the first quarter, and the medical costs of many Medicare Advantage beneficiaries new to UnitedHealthcare remained higher than expected,” the insurer said in a news release.

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UnitedHealthcare affiliates ordered to pay $165 million in Massachusetts lawsuit

Three health insurance companies affiliated with UnitedHealthcare were ordered to pay $165 million in fines and restitution for deceptive marketing practices in what is believed to be the largest total civil penalty brought against a company by the state of Massachusetts.

Acting on a complaint by the state’s attorney general, Superior Court Justice Helene Kazanjian lowered the boom on the three companies – HealthMarkets Inc., the Chesapeake Life Insurance Company, and HealthMarkets Insurance Agency – and said the insurers intentionally targeted “vulnerable consumers who could least afford their products.” The justice said the companies’ deceptive conduct “was particularly egregious.”

The case has a long history dating back to 2006, when the then-AG sued HealthMarkets alleging the companies engaged in misleading marketing tactics. In 2020, the state reopened the case and alleged the companies violated the state’s consumer protection law by misleading consumers into buying unnecessary health insurance products to the tune of more than $43.5 million and also violated a prior consent judgment meant to protect consumers.

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UnitedHealth gave hackers easy access to Change data, new lawsuit claims

A group of 65 plaintiffs sued UnitedHealth Group, claiming that “massive security failures” led to the 2024 Change Healthcare data breach.

Optum, Inc. and Change were also named as defendants in the class-action lawsuit filed U.S District Court for the District of Minnesota. Change announced that its review of the impacted data is "substantially complete."

“Had Defendants employed basic, long-established, and recommended security tools, the Data Breach should have been easily thwarted,” the lawsuit states. However, Change Healthcare’s remote access portal “did not have multi-factor authentication.” As a result, hackers “had virtually no roadblocks in gaining access to the large quantities of Personal Information,” the lawsuit claims.

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Agent groups condemn UnitedHealthcare eliminating commissions

Professional associations representing the agent community came out against UnitedHealthcare's decision to eliminate agent commissions across more than 100 Medicare Advantage plans in more 20 states.

The National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals said this move limits access to trusted, licensed guidance for Medicare beneficiaries and threatens the role of independent agents who serve as vital advocates for older Americans.

This decision by United Healthcare is as shortsighted as it is harmful,” said NABIP CEO Jessica Brooks-Woods. “At a time when seniors are grappling with rising costs, changing formularies, and overwhelming plan options, United Healthcare is cutting off the very people best equipped to help — licensed agents who know their communities, understand their
clients, and act in their best interest. Let’s be clear: this is not about reducing administrative burdens or modernizing enrollment. This is about prioritizing shareholders over seniors.”

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Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected].