{"id":2211156,"date":"2024-04-02T07:45:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T11:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nationwide-ransomware-attack-exposes-the-problem-with-health-care-monopolies\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T07:45:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T11:45:48","slug":"nationwide-ransomware-attack-exposes-the-problem-with-health-care-monopolies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nationwide-ransomware-attack-exposes-the-problem-with-health-care-monopolies\/","title":{"rendered":"Widespread Ransomware Incident Highlights Health Care Monopoly Issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnationwide-ransomware-attack-exposes-the-problem-with-health-care-monopolies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2211156&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The text discusses the Biden administration&#8217;s promotion of Obamacare amidst reelection efforts. It highlights challenges faced \u200bby doctors&#8217; offices due to a recent \u2062cyberattack on a payment processor owned by\u2062 UnitedHealthGroup. The attack&#8217;s impact on the healthcare sector, exacerbated \u2062by industry consolidation sparked by\u200c Obamacare, is a cause for concern.\u200d The mention of the Biden administration&#8217;s promotion of Obamacare\u2064 during reelection campaigns sheds light on the struggles doctors&#8217; offices\u2062 are experiencing following a cyberattack \u200bon a payment \u200dprocessor\u200d owned by UnitedHealthGroup. This attack, compounded by industry \u2064consolidation linked to Obamacare, poses significant worries for the\u200d healthcare sector.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>In a bid to win reelection, the Biden administration keeps trying to sell the country on all the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2024\/03\/06\/biden-aim-trump-obamacare-00145440\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">supposed benefits of Obamacare<\/a>. Before continuing their sales campaign, they might want to check in with the doctors\u2019 offices struggling to make payroll.<\/p>\n<p>For over a month, the multitrillion-dollar health care sector has had to respond to a hack on a payment processor owned by UnitedHealthGroup, the nation\u2019s largest insurer. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/03\/11\/hospitals-doctors-cyberattack-losses?mc_cid=2ca3618f80\">Axios<\/a> reported that hospitals, doctors, medical equipment suppliers, and pharmacies are collectively losing as much as $1 billion a day. The chaos is not only caused in no small part by the industry consolidation <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/06\/biden-doj-tacitly-admits-obamacare-wrecked-crucial-health-care-competition\/\">sparked by Obamacare<\/a>, but it may make the problem even worse.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1217091003\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-98a823e2577d81a5398d489bc1edf949 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-98a823e2577d81a5398d489bc1edf949\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Too Big to Fail Redux?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Ignore for a moment the fact that Change Health Care, the UnitedHealth affiliate whose payment processing operations were attacked, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/alphv-change-healthcare-ransomware-payment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly paid $22 million<\/a> to the ransomware group behind the hack \u2014 which will of course only encourage future efforts to target health care entities in cyberspace. The real issue comes via the size and breadth of the network being hacked.<\/p>\n<p>Consider that Change <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/health\/other\/hhs-moves-to-assist-medicare-providers-affected-by-change-healthcare-hack\/ar-BB1jnq0z?ocid=msedgntp&#038;pc=DCTS&#038;cvid=f73fb0c2ab464d1780fb7500bcd122e1&#038;ei=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">processes<\/a> 15 <em>billion<\/em> medical claims per year \u2014 the most by any organization in the country. In raw terms, that amounts to more than 41 million medical claims per day. When a company is processing what amounts to a medical claim for more than 1 in 10 Americans each and every day, that is bound to extend its reach far and wide in the health care system.<\/p>\n<p>And so it has proved. Doctors and hospitals are struggling to manage cash flow without regular payments from insurers, as the system for processing payments remains clogged. Patients and pharmacists alike are struggling; pharmacists cannot process a patient\u2019s insurance to determine the proper co-payment or co-insurance, and some patients are having to pay large sums out of pocket (that is, if they can afford to do so) and hope their insurance reimburses them eventually.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Encouraging More Consolidation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>How did we get to this point? Why was the nation\u2019s largest health insurer able to buy such a critically important payment processor? Good question.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d5d94f0e62614f3039d156d2f67dd0ab fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d5d94f0e62614f3039d156d2f67dd0ab\"><\/div>\n<p>For years, Obamacare has encouraged hospitals, insurers, and physician offices to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/06\/biden-doj-tacitly-admits-obamacare-wrecked-crucial-health-care-competition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">merge and combine<\/a>, part of a competition not to provide better care to patients \u2014 but to gain market share and leverage over other participants in the health sector. For instance, The Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/health\/healthcare\/u-s-launches-antitrust-investigation-of-healthcare-giant-unitedhealth-ff5a00d2?mod=hp_lead_pos1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted<\/a> just days after the Change hack began that UnitedHealth had come under the Justice Department\u2019s scrutiny regarding potential antitrust violations.<\/p>\n<p>But according to the Journal, the Justice Department investigation is examining UnitedHealth\u2019s ownership of physician groups, and whether those physician groups are favoring UnitedHealth\u2019s insurance products (and vice versa). Put another way, the antitrust concerns go well beyond the nation\u2019s largest health insurer owning the nation\u2019s largest health care payment processor, a transaction the Justice Department tried and failed to block in 2021-22.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Small Practices Hardest Hit<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>While the hack and its wide-ranging ramifications have given UnitedHealth its own set of political and legal headaches, the true cost will get borne by the small physician practices, those that have maintained their independence as industry Goliaths have grown up around them over the past decade-plus. Consider this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthcaredive.com\/news\/change-healthcare-cyberattack-provider-financial-impact-moodys\/709875\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">excerpt from a Moody\u2019s analysis<\/a> of the hack\u2019s effects:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Providers with small scale, a weak financial profile, who only use Change and have little headroom in meeting debt covenants stand to suffer the most from the disruption. \u2026 Larger providers with more resources are in a better position to weather cash flow difficulties.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Thinking about this type of mess with physicians not knowing whether they can make their practice\u2019s payroll, and possibly having to take out personal loans to pay their employees, do you think it makes these independent doctors more or less likely to want to (or need to) sell their practices in the coming years? The answer seems obvious.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-dfd24d593d4358a61bf0ea384cb94e86 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-dfd24d593d4358a61bf0ea384cb94e86\"><\/div>\n<p>All this to say that, as much as the Change hack\u2019s implications are a symptom of consolidation within the health care sector, the situation seems likely to get even worse. And the more health care grows and grows, the greater the calls for taxpayer-funded bailouts will rise the next time a crisis hits. Don\u2019t say you haven\u2019t been warned.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8610c09636538e3584115a2b561c2081 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-8610c09636538e3584115a2b561c2081\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Biden administration pushes Obamacare\u2019s benefits amid reelection efforts. However, doctors&#8217; offices facing payroll challenges suggest a reality check is needed. The multitrillion-dollar health sector grapples with ongoing issues for a month now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2211157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/drugs-scaled.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2211156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/drugs-scaled.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2211157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}