[ADuckOnQuack]

The incentive is probably to get their profit margin up to the maximum 15-20% https://www.propublica.org/article/cigna-pxdx-medical-health...

[lotsofpulp]

For sure, and that is where the government should be handing out heavy penalties. There supposedly is an appeals process, but obviously not enough auditing is being done:

https://www.healthcare.gov/appeal-insurance-company-decision...

Although, even with those fraudulent denials, Cigna's profit margins are suffering:

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/CI/cigna-group/net...

Wonder if they went into too much debt to buy Express Scripts.