John Sununu’s Health Insurance Connections and Their Impact on His Senate Run
As high healthcare costs dominate the political landscape, John Sununu’s connections with the health insurance industry are becoming a focal point in his bid for the U.S. Senate. Sununu, who served as a senator from New Hampshire between 2003 and 2009, is attempting a comeback, but his ties to industry giants might pose challenges.
Following his tenure in the Senate, Sununu joined the lobbying firm Akin Gump, where he spent nine years advising clients in the financial services sector. During this time, the firm was also known to represent significant health insurers, including Liberty Mutual and Alameda Health Alliance. A ProPublica report from 2023 highlighted Akin Gump’s involvement with AHIP, a trade group for health insurers, in lobbying against a proposed rule that would require public disclosure of insurance claim denials. This rule was never implemented and was later rescinded by the Trump administration.
UnitedHealth Group, the largest healthcare company by revenue, was another Akin Gump client during Sununu’s time at the firm. Akin Gump’s involvement with UnitedHealth included advising on mergers and acquisitions, with a 2013 firm press release celebrating their role in orchestrating $4 billion worth of health plan acquisitions. This occurred shortly after a congressional investigation found that UnitedHealth and other insurers had denied coverage to 651,000 people over two years.
In a subsequent controversy, UnitedHealth was accused of rejecting claims at an alarmingly high rate, attributed to an AI model that was discovered to have a 90% error rate (CBS News).
Sununu has also supported legislation beneficial to the health insurance sector. In 2017, he wrote a CNBC op-ed endorsing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, a move projected to inflate the national deficit by $1.5 trillion by 2034. UnitedHealth Group acknowledged that the law resulted in a $1.2 billion favorable non-cash revaluation in 2018.
Furthermore, Sununu endorsed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) last year, which extended the 21% corporate tax rate indefinitely. This extension includes a $1 trillion cut to Medicaid, potentially causing up to 29,000 New Hampshire residents to lose their health coverage. Both the OBBB and the TCJA were passed with Republican support and signed into law by President Trump.
Adding to the scrutiny, in 2008, Sununu co-sponsored legislation that would have allowed insurers to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Sununu’s Democratic challenger, Rep. Chris Pappas, seems to be gaining an edge. A recent New York Times/Siena University poll indicates Pappas holds a five-point lead over Sununu.
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