I Spoke Out Against UnitedHealthcare. Now I Face Financial Ruin

Dr. Elisabeth Potter, a Texas surgeon, made national news for calling out health insurance practices. Now, she alleges that UnitedHealthcare is retaliating against her, a move that could force her specialized surgery center to close. Her story highlights a broader pattern of intimidation against critics.

A Surgeon’s Stand Against Insurance Bureaucracy

Dr. Elisabeth Potter gained viral attention for a video in which she described the intrusive realities of dealing with health insurers. In the clip, she recounted having to scrub out of a cancer surgery to take a call from a UnitedHealthcare representative who was questioning the medical necessity of her patient’s procedure while the patient was asleep.

This moment resonated deeply with a public increasingly frustrated with the healthcare system. Dr. Potter’s sincere account struck a nerve, reflecting a widespread disillusionment with insurance companies that claim to save patients money while often creating obstacles to care.

The Legal Threat: A Intimidation Playbook

Shortly after her video spread online, Dr. Potter received a threatening letter from Clare Locke LLP, a law firm known for representing powerful clients in high-stakes defamation cases. The firm, which has been hired by entities like the Sackler family and Russian oligarchs, was now employed by UnitedHealthcare.

The letter demanded she remove her viral video and issue a public apology. Faced with a choice to back down or fight, Dr. Potter, after consulting attorneys, decided to publicly share the legal threat. UnitedHealthcare did not respond to her defiance and subsequently dropped the legal pressure—but, she alleges, the retaliation simply took another form.

Economic Retaliation: Targeting a Surgery Center

Parallel to her public advocacy, Dr. Potter was pursuing a business endeavor to improve patient care. She invested $5 million—$3.5 million in personal loans and $1.5 million in savings—to open the RedBud Surgery Center in 2024. This facility specializes in advanced breast reconstruction surgery for cancer patients, often using a patient's own tissue, a procedure for which there are few specialists.

Although Dr. Potter was already an in-network surgeon with UnitedHealthcare, her new surgery center, with its significant overhead costs, was not. She hired consultants to negotiate with insurers, including United, to become an in-network provider—a process that would ultimately save the insurer money by moving procedures from expensive hospitals to more cost-effective ambulatory surgery centers.

According to Dr. Potter, communications with United were ongoing until she posted her viral video. After that, they ceased. UnitedHealthcare claims its decision predated the video, but Dr. Potter contends the timing indicates retaliation. Losing in-network status with United, which covers over a quarter of her patients, threatens the financial viability of her center.

A Pattern of Silencing Critics

Dr. Potter’s experience is not isolated. Reports indicate UnitedHealthcare has engaged in aggressive legal tactics to silence criticism:

• It sued The Guardian for defamation over an article based on internal documents about nursing home practices.
• Its lawyers sent letters to Amazon and Vimeo that led to the takedown of an independent docuseries critical of the company.
• Billionaire Bill Ackman received a similar threat from Clare Locke after he shared Dr. Potter’s story.

This pattern suggests a corporate strategy of using legal intimidation to manage public perception and suppress negative narratives, even when they come from credible sources like practicing surgeons.

The Stakes for Patients and Providers

The conflict transcends a single doctor’s business. It underscores a critical dysfunction within the U.S. healthcare system. Insurance companies publicly advocate for moving procedures to lower-cost settings like surgery centers to save money. Yet, when a surgeon builds such a center and seeks to participate in this model, she faces barriers that appear punitive.

Dr. Potter’s patients, many of whom have waited years for specialized care, are the ultimate stakeholders. They often have no idea of the bureaucratic battles required to provide their treatment. Dr. Potter continues to speak out, raising over $500,000 in donations to keep her center open, not for her own benefit, but to advocate for a better system for those she serves.