[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 23, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H4134-H4135]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY STOCK BUYBACKS

  (Mr. Murphy of North Carolina was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to continue to shed light on 
the egregious, unethical, and deliberately unscrupulous practices of 
our health

[[Page H4135]]

insurance companies that deny patients care and rip off the American 
taxpayer.
  I have spent 35 years taking care of patients. The amount of 
treachery in the healthcare industry at this point in time continues to 
boggle my mind.
  A few months ago, the House Ways and Means Committee hosted 
representatives from the Nation's leading insurers. There was 
bipartisan outrage against what they are doing to the American patient 
and the American taxpayer.
  Healthcare is no longer affordable and, in large part, it is due to 
the ever-increasing, insurance-company-driven middleman apparatus. 
These megacorporations are squeezing every last penny out of patients 
and physicians, all in the name of profit.
  Today, I want to discuss an interesting event, how the American 
taxpayer is subsidizing stock buybacks by the United States' largest 
health insurers. A buyback is when companies, flush with cash, our 
cash, are buying back their own stock.
  In 2025, the seven largest for-profit health insurance conglomerates 
took in nearly $1.7 trillion in total in revenues, yielding over $50 
billion in profits. The true number was much higher because of the way 
they hide their finances.
  Regardless, that was a great year for these companies, which receive 
record sums of American taxpayer dollars. In fact, UnitedHealthcare now 
gets more than three-quarters of its revenues from government programs, 
even though it covers almost twice as many people in its commercial 
plans. No wonder they lobbied so hard to keep the ObamaCare subsidies 
in place. They love that taxpayer Federal dollar.
  What is even more sinister is the amount of money that these giants 
have spent on their own stock buybacks. Instead of using money to lower 
the cost of care for patients across the country, they pump it in to 
boost up their own profits.

                              {time}  1215

  In 2015, the top seven companies spent more than $137 billion buying 
back stock shares. United has more than 50 percent of these buybacks, 
and guess who makes the most profit? United does. They are flush with 
cash--so flush, they even own a bank.
  Why is this important? As they buy back their own stock, it makes 
their stock more expensive, drives up earnings, and, guess what, makes 
their executives richer because of their compensation plans. It is all 
at the expense of patients.
  Further, they have become more diversified, vertically integrated 
conglomerates that have swallowed up nearly every part of our 
healthcare system. Mark Cuban and I agree completely. The middleman is 
destroying American medicine.
  As it stands, we are now allowing an oligopoly to take nearly $2 
trillion from the American people, while making it more expensive and 
harder to access healthcare.
  As I have said before, if it were up to me, I would break up these 
giants and eliminate for-profit health insurance.
  Medically necessarily healthcare cannot be treated the same way as 
other customer goods and services. I believe that patients must take 
responsibility for their well-being, but I also think it is a marked 
way that we incentivize making people healthier. I also understand that 
people cannot afford healthcare right now.
  We are all impacted by emergencies and illnesses at some point in our 
life, even the most robust and healthy individuals. A visit to the 
emergency room should not be a life-altering financial event.
  Therapy for cancer we know how to treat should not be a death 
sentence because of the cost of care. Access to a lifesaving medicine 
that sustains your life should not bankrupt you.
  I am an equal opportunity offender. I will go after any entity in the 
healthcare industry regardless that is causing the cost of healthcare 
to be so expensive. These greedy and egregious practices of our health 
insurance companies top the list.
  Countless patients are denied medically necessary care every single 
day because these companies want to save a buck. They want to save a 
buck to buy back their stock and increase their profits.
  Make no mistake, the health insurance industry is the most powerful 
one in Washington, D.C. But fortunately, the American people are waking 
up. They are waking up to the nonsense and demanding change.
  I have dedicated my entire life to taking care of patients. I am 
happy to take on this fight. We cannot deal with this anymore. The 
insurance industry is destroying American healthcare.
  I will not rest until this job is finished and we break up these 
insurance company monopolies.

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