Doctors detail profit-driven changes after UnitedHealth acquisition

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — UnitedHealth Group told Connecticut’s primary care physicians everything they wanted to hear.

Take our money, the company said, and together we can create a future where primary care rules. A future where doctors can better care for their patients and reap the financial rewards of better health. We’ll take care of the business while you take care of your patients.

Instead, nearly 10 years after UnitedHealth bought ProHealth Physicians, the primary care network is a shadow of its former self. Doctors are retiring early or leaving their practices to join competing practices. Patients with serious medical conditions are struggling to get appointments, while others are complaining about mysterious diagnoses that appear in their records. Disillusioned, many patients are leaving their practices.