Early this morning, the Hill reported that the Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is relying on a private company — a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group — to play a central role in establishing and running Obamacare’s insurance “exchanges.”  As the Hill writes, the report raises serious questions about competitive fairness, as “the quiet nature of the transaction, which was not disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has fueled suspicion among industry insiders that UnitedHealth Group may be gaining an advantage for its subsidiary, UnitedHealthcare.” 

But there’s far more to this story. An insurance industry insider (speaking on the condition of anonymity) says that HHS, in an attempt to hide this transaction from public view until after the election, actively encouraged the violation of SEC law.