Senators Slam UnitedHealth’s C.E.O. Over Cyberattack
The New York Times
Several lawmakers questioned whether the company had become so large — with tentacles in every aspect of the nation’s medical care — that the effects of the hack were outsize.
In a tense Senate hearing on Wednesday, lawmakers sharply criticized UnitedHealth Group’s handling of the cyberattack that paralyzed the U.S. health care system, citing the failure of its security systems and the potential disclosure of sensitive medical information of millions of Americans.
Democratic and Republican senators questioned whether the cyberattack of Change Healthcare, which manages a third of all U.S. patient records and some 15 billion transactions a year, was so vast because UnitedHealth is too deeply embedded in nearly every aspect of the nation’s medical care.
UnitedHealth Group, which reported $372 billion in revenues in 2023 and is one of the nation’s largest corporations, is not only the parent of Change but also the parent of the country’s largest health insurer and a big pharmacy benefit manager (OptumRx). United also oversees nearly one in 10 doctors in the country.
“The Change hack is a dire warning about the consequences of ‘too big to fail’ mega-corporations gobbling up larger and larger shares of the health care system,” said Senator Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat who is the chairman of the Finance Committee.
The U.S. health system was thrust into chaos after the Feb. 21 attack on Change, which serves as a digital highway between health insurers and hospitals and doctors. Patients could not fill prescriptions, and hospitals and doctors faced a severe cash crunch because they could not be paid for their care.
Congressional lawmakers have clamored for more information about how the hack happened and what UnitedHealth was doing to address it, and the company declined a request last month to appear before the House health subcommittee. On Wednesday, UnitedHealth’s chief executive, Andrew Witty, was summoned to testify before both the Senate Finance Committee and a panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The reality star who rose to fame on “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” is being investigated for domestic violence along with the father of one of her children.
A new study found that women who went through so-called premature menopause had 40 percent more fatal and nonfatal heart attacks over the course of their lives.
In a stroke of luck, astronomers saw the comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) break into four or five fragments in November after it passed close to the sun.
New A.I. bots can do more than just chat. They can edit files, send emails, book trips and cause trouble.
The series, “inspired” by the story of a royal dresser later convicted of murder, is getting added attention over the former Duchess of York’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Lawyers for both sides in the federal lawsuit, brought by six medical organizations, are trying to understand the ramifications of the judge’s decision.
Andy Weir discusses his science-fueled novel “Project Hail Mary,” which has been adapted into a film that opens in theaters on Friday.
After years of criticism and financial risk, Palantir, Anthropic and small start-ups are generating rewards from their investments in defense tech.
In a legal filing, the government said it questioned whether the A.I. start-up could be a “trusted partner” in wartime, which led it to label the company a supply chain risk.
Before humanity sent satellites, telescopes, humans and weapons into space, Robert Goddard experimented with the first liquid-fueled rocket on his aunt’s farm.
A draft State Department memo outlines ways the Trump administration may ratchet up pressure on the African country by ending health support “on a massive scale.”
A Florida bill that would have regulated artificial intelligence, backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, failed to gain traction after President Trump made it clear he did not want states to rein in the technology.
The series, “inspired” by the story of a royal dresser later convicted of murder, is getting added attention over the former Duchess of York’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.