Putting Patients OVER Profits: Congressman PAT RYAN Rallies Hudson Valley Community Against Unitedhealth Consolidation Causing POOR CARE Quality and Increased Costs

June 17, 2026 Press Release Putting Patients Over Profits: Congressman Pat Ryan Rallies Hudson Valley Community Against UnitedHealth Consolidation Causing Poor Care Quality and Increased Costs On Friday, Congressman Pat Ryan joined Hudson Valley health care providers, patients, and medical students in a Community Speak Out against UnitedHealth’s mass acquisition of Hudson Valley medical practices through their Optum subsidiary Ryan introduced the “Patients Over Profits Act” after his community inquiry revealed a litany of concerns at Optum-owned practices, including customer service delays, billing issues, and a decrease in care quality and provider availability In the Hudson Valley, Optum practices are now no longer accepting certain insurance plans, including Fidelis, forcing more patients to sign up for United – their parent company’s – coverage NEW PALTZ, NY  – On Friday, Congressman Pat Ryan joined Hudson Valley health care providers, patients, and medical students for a Community Speak Out outside the New Paltz Optum Primary Care. The group shared stories of how Optum’s – a subsidiary of UnitedHealth – mass acquisition of medical practices has negatively impacted people’s ability to get care and placed strain on independent practices and pharmacies in the Hudson Valley. Optum has bought up practices employing more than 2,500 doctors in the Hudson Valley since 2022, and controls 10% of physicians nationwide. Ryan introduced the Patients Over Profits Act earlier this year after his community inquiry revealed a litany of concerns at Optum-owned practices, including customer service delays, billing issues, and a decrease in care quality and provider availability. Most recently, Optum practices in the Hudson Valley have stopped accepting certain insurance plans, including Fidelis, forcing more patients to sign up for their, often more expensive, United coverage. Ryan’s legislation bars insurers – including UnitedHealth Group – from buying medical practices through subsidiaries like Optum, and requires existing healthcare conglomerates to separate their insurance and healthcare provider businesses. “UnitedHealth has gobbled up our local healthcare practices, creating a monopoly that directly hurts everyone in our community. We took our fight to their doorstep – and the heartbreaking stories our neighbors shared showed how urgently we need to stop them. In their greedy pursuit of profits, United now owns the insurance company, they own your doctor, they own the pharmacy and they own the software that processes all of your information – and they use it all to keep prices high and drive quality down,” said Congressman Pat Ryan. “Now, they’re starting to refuse more and more insurers in an effort to squeeze even more money out of us, knowing there’s nowhere else to turn. Enough. The Hudson Valley is leading the fight to break up United, bring back local, independent doctors offices and pharmacies, lower the cost of your care, and make sure you’re not billed a dime more than you owe. The only thing your medical provider should care about is keeping you and your family healthy – not United’s quarterly earnings report. Together, we’re going to keep fighting to build something better – where patients can quickly access quality care right here in the community without facing endless roadblocks, where healthcare workers get the fair wages they deserve for their heroic work, and where every American is able to get the quality care they deserve at a price they can afford.” “My experience with Optum started after I graduated college and needed to find a primary care provider. In March of 2023, I searched through the Fidelis portal and found that the Optum office in Hopewell was in network. I called to book with a doctor who was accepting new patients. Her next available appointment was 10 months later, in January 2024,” said Melissa Arboleda, a medical student from Wappingers Falls. “Cut to January of this year, when Optum stopped accepting Fidelis, so now I can’t see my doctor at all. I am also a medical student. I just finished my first year last month. It turns out my school has an optional long-term mentorship program between students and doctors at Optum. It seems incongruent that I could receive education from a company I can’t even access medical care from. It is concerning that 1 in 10 of my fellow medical students will end up working for a corporation that prioritizes shareholder interests over patients. That’s not why I chose to go into medicine.” “I have degrees in biology and education and this is relevant because even with this knowledge and communication skills, I still cannot manage to receive truly adequate health care at any Optum facilities. I never thought to consider health care in part of our decision of where to move. Neighbors welcomed us into the area, but often also warned us about “Crystal Run”. I didn’t know what they meant at the time. Appointments were difficult to get – and when I finally was able to see a doctor here, I immediately understood what the neighbors had been talking about. This would be the beginning of a 2 year long push to receive the necessary time and resources for my healthcare,” said Rebecca Daniels, a science teacher from Orange County. “Since then, I have seen multiple endocrinologists, who do not have the time to offer adequate care and often cancel appointments due to scheduling issues, with the soonest rescheduling 3 to 6 months down the road. You can see this phenomenon with many doctors at Crystal Run, who previously were rated very highly for their attention to detail, now cannot communicate with or manage their patients. I recently had to manage a medication dose change entirely through the “My Chart” chat because appointments were not available. I hope we can prioritize addressing the community and life changing effect this company is having on the people of the Hudson Valley.” “The nurses who live and work in this community are concerned about health care right now. Healthcare corporations keep saying that patient care and efficiencies improve when mergers take place. That’s not what we have seen,” said New York State Nurses Association Director at Large, Christina Evans, Vassar Brothers Medical  RN. “Optum’s merger shows how the opposite happens when health care mergers take place. Optum, a UnitedHealthcare subsidiary, has dramatically worsened care and working conditions at CareMount and Crystal Run after taking over. For the Hudson Valley to thrive, we need more quality, affordable healthcare for all, not profit-driven consolidation and Medicaid cuts. We need to send the message to Washington: hands off our healthcare! Stop the cuts!” “I chose Optum at age 65 in 2020. Because I was 65, Optum charged me an additional $200 out-of-pocket for services annually which other offices did not do. A pathologist from another practice for a different service sent me a report noting two cysts in my female organs. I sent my Optum specialist the report. She responded quickly and told me they were simple cysts and not to worry,” said Margie Decicco, a former Optum patient. “One cyst was growing. I requested a CA125 Blood Test and a CT Scan, and was told they were not necessary. I was assigned a PA, who postponed my scheduled follow-up appointment as she was swamped having two gyns out on disability. At age 68, February 2024, the PA would not return my calls with the sonogram results. I persisted for ten days to contact her or anyone at Optum to obtain my results. I was scared.” “A nurse called me with an appointment the next day to see another gyn of choice. She recommended  and performed a D&C and laparoscopy, removing my ovaries and fallopian tubes in April. Within a week I had the devastating news. Ovarian Cancer Stage III at a minimum. This doctor was thrown into this mess and did her best to comfort me,” Decicco continued. “A local cancer center was recommended. My calls were returned over three weeks later. I was told they were short-handed. I had already moved on to an out-of-area cancer center. After abdominal surgery, my NYC surgeon told me that I had saved my own life by advocating for myself as he found Stage IV Uterine and Stage II Ovarian cancers, a fast-moving ‘high-grade serous carcinoma’ that I had developed nearly one year ago. I had little time left. After major surgery, chemo and another year of maintenance treatment with the out-of-area cancer center, I am alive and stable. That is how Optum failed me.” “What we have been seeing in recent years is a clear example of American corporate takeover of small businesses, medical and pharmacy services. Corporate greed has taken over the wonderful professional services provided by the individual practitioners resulting in culminating access to our communities,” said Nasir Mahmood, Owner, Pine Planes Pharmacy. “Optum is a classical example of vertical and horizontal acquisitions eliminating the competition and depriving the citizens the choice they deserve. This trend has to stop and on behalf of the pharmacists community, I applaud the efforts of our beloved Congressman. His effective legislation has already made a difference in the lives of our communities and would support him in all endeavors.” Senator Michelle Hinchey said “Here in the Hudson Valley, we are experiencing monopolistic behavior in healthcare that is making it nearly impossible for people to find the care they need. For decades, the federal government has abandoned its responsibility to enforce antitrust laws, allowing a handful of corporations to own nearly every element of healthcare delivery - complete vertical integration. These corporations are incentivized to favor their own affiliates to maximize profits over access, which leads directly to patients with fewer choices, higher costs and even no local provider that takes their insurance - like Optum’s decision to withdraw from accepting Fidelis and Cigna plans. If Optum is going to operate here, they have a responsibility to deliver quality care, but instead, they are scaling back and playing dangerously with people’s lives - it’s unacceptable and should be illegal. We need to fix this one-sided system and restore competition in healthcare, and in the meantime, Optum should protect its patients or get out of the healthcare sector.” “Every person in our community deserves access to reliable, affordable, and high quality health care, and we’re seeing the opposite from Optum -- reduced access, higher costs, and decisions that put profits ahead of patients and the medical professionals who care for them. That is unacceptable,” said Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger. “On behalf of the many Ulster County residents who rely on Optum, I want to thank Congressman Ryan for standing up to corporate consolidation and for fighting to put patients over profits. We support this effort 100%, and stand with him in this fight for dependable, affordable, and patient-centered  health care.” Across the country, Optum has purchased doctor’s offices at an aggressive pace. It has become the largest employer of doctors, with one in ten physicians nationwide now under its control. Optum’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, also owns the largest insurance company, one of the three largest Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and the largest medical claims manager. United has used this vast power to rip off patients and enrich its shareholders, with profits of $14 billion in 2024. Nationwide, Optum has spent $31 billion on acquisitions over a two-year period, and has purchased everything from physician practices to ambulatory surgical centers. These acquisitions threaten equitable access to care, raise costs, and reduce physicians’ clinical autonomy. It is also a conflict of interest – insurance companies like United can steer patients to their own providers and subsidiaries, potentially to increase profits, rather than focusing on medical necessity. In 2022, Optum purchased CareMount Medical, a medical group with over 2,100 providers and 1.6 million patients in the tri-state area. In 2023, Optum further consolidated the market for physician services in the Hudson Valley with its acquisition of Crystal Run Healthcare, with about 400 providers. Patients across the Hudson Valley have reported that the shift to Optum has worsened the quality of their care and reduced access to medical providers in our area. This includes difficulty scheduling doctor’s appointments, inaccurate billing, unexplained fees, long wait times, and poor customer service. In addition, Optum employees have reported layoffs and chaotic, overburdened work schedules, leading to staff burnout. ### Issues : An Economy that Works for All Ensuring Safety for All Government that Works for All