Thomas advice to patients facing such denials?
Pull out your checkbook.
It hasnt been rectified.
Justice Clarence Thomas at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on April 23, 2021.Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images
The repercussions continue, DeBofsky tellsRolling Stone.
Weve all been on one side or the other of that equation.
In 2004, UnitedHealth listed Welters on itswebsiteas one of its business leaders.
Two years later, the companyappointedWelters as an executive vice president at the UnitedHealth Group level.
The next year, itsaidWelters would head UnitedHealths public and social markets group.
By 2013, Weltersheld583,506 UnitedHealth shares, worth roughly $36 million at the time.
He retired from the company in 2016.
According to amemoreleased by the Senate Finance Committee, Welters extended Thomas RV loan in 2004 for 10 years.
Federal law requires Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves in any case where their impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
Thomas does not appear to have explained his decision to withdraw from the two matters that directly involved UnitedHealth.
He instead authored the courts opinion, which expanded insurers favorite tool for limiting liability: ERISA.
The lawisrelativelyvaguewhen it comes to welfare benefits, and contains a broad preemption clause.
The Supreme Courts 2004 decision inAetna Healthhelped cement this harsh reality.
The first patient was prescribed a specific arthritis drug by his physician.
Shesufferedpost-surgical complications and was forced to return to the hospital.
George Parker Young was the lawyer for the patients inAetna Health.
I just got out of it, he says.
It had been 100 percent of my cases, and I wound up that docket.
I cant say that, and that would be disingenuous for me to say that, he says.
But looking back now at the RV loan provided by Welters, Young says, It does stink.
Thomas did not respond to a request for comment via a Supreme Court spokesperson.
Welters did not respond to a request for comment sent to his organization, the BlackIvy Group.
UnitedHealth declined to comment.
