Senate Republicans on Wednesday discussed the need to cut out waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare to achieve more deficit reduction in President Trump's landmark bill to extend the 2017 tax cuts, provide new tax relief, secure the border and boost defense spending.
Luigi Mangione, charged in the December ambush shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is indeed a terrorist, a New York prosecutor said in a court filing Wednesday night. Some 40 UHC executives were so afraid after the murder that they enlisted bodyguards, the prosecutor argued in an 82-page rebuke of defense lawyers' efforts to get Mangione's state terrorism charge dropped. One exec who received death threats dyed her hair and moved to a temporary home out of fear she might be harmed next, the new court filing said.
While it is 'impossible to say how much of the current challenges facing UnitedHealthcare are due, entirely, or even partly, to the murder of this executive,' Dr. Howard P. Forman, a professor of radiology, economics and public health at Yale School of Management, told Newsweek, 'it has changed some of the behaviors of the company and how they approach their work.'
President Donald Trump's big bill in Congress would unleash trillions in tax cuts and slash spending, but also spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade and leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance, raising the political stakes for the GOP's signature domestic priority.
UnitedHealthcare is suing The Guardian for defamation over a story the publication ran related to its billing for nursing home residents. In a May 21 story, The Guardian alleged that the healthcare giant saved money at the cost of nursing home residents' health. In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, UnitedHealthcare said that The Guardian had knowingly published false information, and tried to capitalize on media interest in the killing of its then-CEO last year in New York. The healthcare company alleged that The Guardian cropped screenshots quoted in the article, taking the email out of its full context. It further disputed some of The Guardian's characterizations of medical events in the story.
Members of Congress reintroduced the Medicare Economic Security Solutions Act, proposing sweeping reforms to Medicare Part B late enrollment penalties. The legislation would limit penalties to 15% of the monthly premium and restrict their duration while also removing penalties for individuals who delayed enrollment due to other coverage, such as COBRA, retiree plans, or Veterans Affairs benefits. More than 700,000 Medicare beneficiaries currently face permanent increases in their Part B premiums because of late enrollment, with average penalties reaching 30%.