David Dayen
Executive Editor
1225 I Street NW, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20005
David Dayen is the executive editor of The American Prospect. He is the author of Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power and Chain of Title: How Three Ordinary Americans Uncovered Wall Street’s Great Foreclosure Fraud. He co-hosts the podcast Organized Money with Matt Stoller.
Topics
Appearances (1)
2026-08-11
David Dayen Discusses the Power of Big Insurance in HealthcareIn the latest episode of the Health Policy Podcast, David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, discusses the influence of major health insurance companies in the U.S. healthcare system. He highlights how companies like UnitedHealthcare and CVS/Aetna operate as health conglomerates, leveraging their power to maximize profits through practices such as upcoding in Medicare Advantage. Dayen also addresses the political lobbying efforts of the insurance industry and recent state-level reforms aimed at reducing costs and increasing access to healthcare.
Notable quotes
“We only have a handful of big health insurance companies in America.”
“Medicare Advantage effectively overbills the federal government by the tune of $76 billion per year.”
“The only people that lose are the American people and the American taxpayer.”
“The insurance industry has effectively used its own power to reduce scrutiny of its practices.”
“Those members have received hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars from the industry over the course of their careers.”
“People are very angry about the healthcare system in general, and I think insurance companies in particular.”
