United HealthCare - HUGE SECURITY Breach!

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Thursday February 29, 2024 · 12:18 PM PST

2024/02/29 · 12:18

The above is a note posted to a public forums (reddit, X, others) from hackers (BlackCat) due to lack of action/payment by Change HealthCare, owned by United HealthCare after a Ransomware attack on Change HealthCare’s systems. I’ve been in Healthcare industry (on payer side) for more than 35 years and this could potentially be one of the biggest security breaches of healthcare data in the digital age. This attack occurred sometime last Wednesday (2/21) and Change HealthCare has been “offline” since that time. For those that don’t know the name, Change HealthCare is one of the leading HealthCare Data Clearinghouses that submit claims data to Health Plans in the US. This impacts millions of us as providers can’t get claims through the healthcare system currently. It’s only been a week and most of us have seen no impact thus far but there are sure to be both near and far reaching impacts, both financially and on our privacy.

Pure speculation on my part, but I also noted that last week BitCoin was at approximately $54K and now sits north of $64K as that is traditionally how these ransomware ransoms are paid, e.g. see MGM and Ceasar’s as both were attacked recently by BlackCat. I’m guessing a few are speculating a huge payout in Bitcoin in the near future.

I’m not an IT guy, I’m an operations guy in healthcare, so I don’t know all the implications here, I’ve also not seen anything on the news (or this platform) about this, but expect that this may be coming to a newspaper or TV broadcast headline soon!

Here’s hoping for the best outcome for the integrity of our healthcare data and privacy.

Peace to all,

Mak

Republican vetting; definition of ineptitude.

makome

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Thursday October 13, 2016 · 9:26 AM PDT

2016/10/13 · 09:26

Long time lurker, occasional diarist, here to share some thoughts that have come to my head over the past week as more and more revelations are brought forth regarding the Republican Presidential nominee’s past. As I have scanned my Facebook front page over the past week I’ve noted an uptick in hysteria about the media’s collusion with the HRC campaign and/or the Democratic party in general regarding the release of the Republican nominee’s past boorish (at best) and criminal (at worst) behavior. As more and more of these details are released the louder and louder the screaming of conspiracy and collusion come from the right. My response on Facebook as been simple and to the point: The Republican party did not properly vet its candidate. Your party’s ineptitude has resulted in a non-viable candidate.

They had more than a year, hundreds of staffers and a damn Twitter “movement” (#notrump) and yet no one could come up with any of the dirt that is coming out now? Now you want to blame Democrats for bringing up what your sorry excuse for oppo-research failed to do during the Primaries? Your party is the failure here, and the result is an unfit candidate that has zero chance of winning the election and may well bring down the party and their majority in both houses of Congress.

The “R” team had 16 non-Trump candidates back in 2015 :

John Kasich

Ted Cruz

Marco Rubio

Ben Carson

Jeb Bush

Jim Gilmore

Chris Christie

Carly Fiorina

Rand Paul

Rick Santorum

Mike Huckabee

George Pataki

Lindsey Graham

Bobby Jindal

Scott Walker

16 candidates! 16 campaigns staffed with experienced political operatives that have run winning campaigns before! Politics is a rough and tumble game and the shovel always digs deep during national elections — no stone gets left upturned. It simply boggles the mind that someone so flawed and with such a public background as Trump could not be exposed in such a way that his campaign would have been derailed before it even began. Republicans have no one to blame but themselves, their poor campaign management and lack of research, for the disaster that looms before them. Republicans like to claim they are the party of personal responsibility, well it’s time to take the moniker to heart as YOU are personally responsible for YOUR Train-wreck. NOT Liberals, NOT the media, NOT the Democratic Party, NOT President Obama and certainly NOT our next President Hillary Rodham Clinton!!

Hidden Benefits of Obamacare - Operating Rules!

makome

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Tuesday February 12, 2013 · 9:22 AM PST

2013/02/12 · 09:22

As a long-time lurker, infrequent commenter and someone who has worked in the rightfully disparaged Healthcare Insurance industry for the last 25 years, I'd thought I'd pipe in on what's going on behind the headlines in the industry. Specifically what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA or Obamacare - I will use them interchangeably below) requires of health care payers (insurance companies) to do administratively to streamline operations, reduce costs and, more importantly, make them easier to work with from a providers' perspective, reducing their administrative costs as well. There is some wonky stuff below but hopefully info that helps everyone understand some of the hidden benefits of the ACA - follow me below the orange tidal waves for more details...

makome

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Wednesday July 05, 2006 · 9:02 PM PDT

2006/07/05 · 21:02

Long time lurker, first time diarist...so be kind. I have for as long as I can remember been a part of the throngs that attend public fireworks shows on the 4th of July. My childhood memories bring back thoughts of sitting on football field bleachers or on the field on a blanket gazing up at the sky. If we were lucky my Mom would keep my sister and me sufficiently occupied until the show began with some soda and candy (yes, a product of the 70's). I remember everyone in my small hometown being there and watching the local booming light show. I remember the vibrant colors and sounds and just having a great time on a warm summer evening with those I know and love all around. What I don't recall about these wonderful childhood memories is that these celebrations evoked feelings other than some lighthearted patriotism and a fun night out. Over the last couple of years that changed for me...follow below: Read More

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BlackCat Ransomware Attack on Change HealthCare/Optum/United HealthCare - HUGE SECURITY Breach!

Republican vetting; definition of ineptitude.

Hidden Benefits of Obamacare - Operating Rules!

Why my July 4th Celebration was Ruined.