Pricey Readers,
I’m thrilled to share the information as we speak that 4 STAT reporters have received the George W. Polk Award, some of the prestigious honors in American journalism, for his or her collection that highlights how UnitedHealth Group wields its unmatched doctor empire to spice up its income and develop its affect.
Lengthy earlier than the killing final December of a prime government sparked extraordinary curiosity in United Well being, reporters Bob Herman, Tara Bannow, Casey Ross, and Lizzy Lawrence and their editors acknowledged that the conglomerate’s anticompetitive conduct and emergence as a modern-day Normal Oil set it aside and deserved months of our investigative focus.
In awarding the Polk for well being care reporting, the judges mentioned STAT’s “Well being Care’s Colossus” was “a penetrating six-part collection inspecting the large attain of UnitedHealth Group into each side of a damaged well being care system. The collection focuses on how the conglomerate milks the system for revenue on the expense of taxpayers, sufferers and clinicians by offering assembly-line care that treats tens of millions of sufferers as merchandise to be monetized.”
That is STAT’s third Polk award over the past 5 years. Helen Branswell received for public service for her prescient protection of Covid-19; the workforce of Matthew Herper, Adam Feuerstein, and Damian Garde received within the medical reporting class for his or her investigation revealing that Biogen used a FDA again channel to win approval for a controversial therapy for Alzheimer’s illness.
John Darnton, curator of the Polk awards, mentioned the winners introduced as we speak mirrored “distinctive and infrequently outstanding reporting” and “symbolize the perfect of the perfect.”
We additionally discovered final week that the Colossus collection is a finalist in one other prestigious competitors, the Nationwide Journal Awards, within the public curiosity class. STAT can also be a finalist for basic excellence amongst particular curiosity publications.
As shockwaves from Washington rattle the world of well being and science, STAT’s tough-minded and authoritative reporting from D.C., across the nation, and in Europe is extra important than ever. Over the previous few days, we have now damaged story after story, together with the Trump administration planning to slash hundreds of well being care jobs, the anticipated devastation of a “crown jewel’’ of public well being, and penalties for the well being of each American.
Day after day, new subscribers are flocking to our web site in report numbers for these tales.
For those who learn our free tales however don’t subscribe, I’d be grateful in the event you enroll. Our work is expensive, and we depend on subscribers to fund it. Most of our unique tales can be found solely to subscribers.
To get a behind-the-scenes style of how we see our mission at STAT, I hope you’ll watch this video during which I interview the 4 award-winning reporters about how they produced the Colossus collection. You’ll perceive why I’m so pleased with what they’ve completed.
I pledge to you that we’re steadfast in our willpower to proceed delivering essentially the most impactful journalism concerning the political forces, energy brokers, personalities, and applied sciences which might be affecting the well being of each one in every of us.