When a subsidiary of the giant UnitedHealth Group got hit by a cyberattack recently, a big chunk of the country’s doctors, pharmacists, hospitals and therapists just stopped getting paid.
It’s been a huge disruption, with some providers wondering if they can keep their doors open.
But thanks to their huge size and reach, the situation may have had a silver lining — for United.
Which seems like a big problem, and got us wondering: What can we maybe do about it?
The answer turns out to be: Maybe more than we think, via antitrust enforcers at the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Strap in for a wild ride — and then maybe check out FTC Chair Lina Khan’s talk with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. We include some short excerpts, but the whole thing is worth a watch.
Thanks to reporters Brittany Trang (STAT News) and Maureen Tkacik (The American Prospect) for guiding us through their reporting.
And to the novelist/journalist/activist Cory Doctorow, who has been writing about antitrust enforcement for years. Here are a couple of his columns about Lina Khan and what she and other antitrust enforcers are up to.
If you want a deeper dive on the new antitrust movement: It’s summed up in a terrific (and short) book by Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor and former White House adviser: The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age.
And you may be able to get it for free! If your local library uses a system called Hoopla, you can borrow it as either an audiobook or an ebook.
Super-fun tangent: Cory Doctorow and Tim Wu went to elementary school together — and apparently played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons — when they were kids in Toronto.
Here’s a transcript of this episode.
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Badass volunteers help Jared level up, in the fight to crush medical debt
A whole book about fighting effed-up medical bills? Yes, please.
Want to write a killer letter to insurance? Meet Jeannine.
Mini-episode: One guy skirts a medical-bill trap, and shares the secret.
Why picking the right insurance is so hard (bonus/encore)
Programming note: We're working on some cool new stuff.
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Revisiting insulin, as relevant (and expensive) as ever
A legal strategy for erasing billions in medical debt— that works—from a 60-second video.
A former "bad guy" lawyer shows us how the dark machinery works. And our rights.
Mini-episode: Two small doses of good news
A 21st-century Christmas Carol: How one Scrooge became a health-care whistleblower
From our reporter's notebook: What we learned in 2020, and what's ahead, with T.K. Dutes
Fight! My family tries to pick health insurance for next year. COVID makes it harder.
Andy Slavitt gives us a COVID check-in from 40,000 feet
How to avoid a big bill for your COVID test: with Sarah Kliff of the New York Times
How to Keep Cool in a Tough Moment: A self-defense expert breaks it down
David v Goliath: How to beat a big hospital (using small claims court)
How to handle debt collectors, with the TikTok Mom and a legal expert
Your TikTok Mom has some medical-bill tips, and a hell of a story
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