Sununu’s Health Insurance Connections Cast Shadow on Senate Campaign
John Sununu, the former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire, is seeking to reclaim his seat, but his past associations with the health insurance sector may impact his campaign. The high cost of healthcare has become a significant issue in the current Senate race.
After serving in the Senate from 2003 to 2009, Sununu joined the lobbying firm Akin Gump for nine years, providing guidance to clients in the financial services industry. During his tenure, Akin Gump represented major health insurers such as Liberty Mutual and Alameda Health Alliance.
According to a 2023 ProPublica report, Akin Gump worked on behalf of the trade group AHIP, which opposed an Obama-era rule requiring insurers to disclose the number of denied claims. This proposal was later retracted by President Donald Trump.
UnitedHealth Group, the largest healthcare company by revenue, was another Akin Gump client during Sununu’s time at the firm. Akin Gump’s role involved advising UnitedHealth Group on mergers and acquisitions, including three health plan acquisitions valued at approximately $4 billion, as highlighted in a 2013 Akin Gump press release.
UnitedHealth Group faced scrutiny from a congressional investigation, which found that the company and other top insurers denied care to 651,000 individuals over two years. A decade later, UnitedHealth Group was again under fire for high claim denial rates linked to an AI model with a 90% error rate, as reported by CBS News.
Throughout his career, Sununu has supported legislation benefiting the health insurance industry. In a 2017 CNBC op-ed, he endorsed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%. UnitedHealth Group reported a $1.2 billion non-cash revaluation following the tax cut.
Sununu also backed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), which maintained the 21% corporate tax rate and included a $1 trillion Medicaid cut. This legislation could result in the loss of health insurance for up to 29,000 New Hampshire residents.
Both the OBBB and TCJA passed solely with Republican support and were signed into law by Trump. In 2008, Sununu co-sponsored a bill permitting insurers to refuse coverage for preexisting conditions.
Sununu’s current opponent, Democrat Rep. Chris Pappas, leads in the polls by five points, according to a recent survey by The New York Times and Siena University.
The post Sununu’s health insurance ties follow him into Senate race appeared first on American Journal News.
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