Tag: corporations

Massachusetts Sues UnitedHealthcare Over Alleged $100 Million Fraud

Massachusetts sued UnitedHealthcare on May 29, alleging the company defrauded the state’s Medicaid program by making seniors appear sicker than they were to secure higher payments.

The company contracted with MassHealth to provide a Senior Care Options—which combines Medicare and Medicaid benefits into one plan—for seniors aged 65 and older.

UnitedHealthcare allegedly received more than $100 million in fraudulent payments from MassHealth between 2015 and 2025, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell stated in the complaint.

UnitedHealthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, said the complaint is “meritless and doesn’t accurately describe our Senior Care Options program” in ‌a statement emailed to The Epoch Times.

The legal complaint alleged UnitedHealthcare inflated payment rates in three ways.

Upcoding

Massachusetts paid UnitedHealthcare a per-member, per-month rate for each senior enrolled in the plan based on UnitedHealthcare’s assessments of the member’s health conditions.

UnitedHealthcare allegedly labeled members as having behavioral health disorders such as depression or anxiety, or substance use disorders to gain higher reimbursement rates, according to the complaint, when the members had no diagnosis or treatment on record for such conditions.

An analysis by the attorney general’s office revealed that nearly 30 percent of UnitedHealthcare’s 2014 through 2024 behavioral health assessments lacked any matching medical claims to support the mental health diagnoses reported to the state.

Keeping Overpayments

The insurer’s internal reviews identified that many members were incorrectly placed in the highest and most expensive level of care despite not qualifying for it, according to the lawsuit.

While the company eventually downgraded these members to lower-paying levels, it allegedly failed to inform the state of the prior errors or return the extra money it had already collected.

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Electric Vehicles Lead Major Car Maker to Report First Loss in Decades

Honda Motors reported its first annual loss in nearly 70 years, which came as a result of an emphasis on electric cars.

The Japan-based car company has been listed on the stock market since 1957, but the combination of electric vehicle bets and Trump trade policies led to its first-ever year in the red.

“EV demand has declined considerably, due to the rollback of environmental regulations in the U.S. and other factors,” Honda said in a statement, per a report from Fox Business.

The company faces $9 billion in restructuring costs because of the lackluster electric vehicle demand.

It suffered a $2.7 billion loss in the past fiscal year, according to a report from the Associated Press.

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DOT Subpoenas New York After Deadly Virginia Bus Crash — State Accused of Stonewalling Federal Investigation Into Chinese-Born CDL Holder

The Biden-era policies that opened the floodgates to lax oversight and questionable licensing practices are once again under scrutiny after the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a subpoena to the State of New York over its refusal to cooperate with a federal investigation into a deadly bus crash that killed five people in Virginia.

According to a report from Fox News, the DOT confirmed it has formally subpoenaed New York officials after the state allegedly failed to provide records related to Jing Shen Dong, the bus driver accused of causing the horrific crash in Stafford County, Virginia, on Friday morning.

The crash left five people dead and multiple others injured, raising serious questions about how Dong obtained and maintained his commercial driver’s license (CDL).

“The Acura caught fire, police said. Four of the five people killed were in the Acura: a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts, police said,” ABC News reported.

“The fifth victim killed, a 25-year-old woman, was in the Suburban, police said,” the outlet reported.

“Forty-four people were taken to hospitals, including three with critical injuries, police said,” ABC reported.

Federal officials say Dong is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in China, does not speak English, and received his CDL through the State of New York in 2024.

Now, transportation officials want answers.

According to DOT, investigators attempted to obtain critical documents through normal channels but were repeatedly met with resistance from New York authorities.

“The subpoena is a result of not being able to obtain the requested documents through other reasonable means,” a DOT spokesperson told Fox News.

The federal agency is demanding that New York turn over all records related to Dong’s CDL, his entry-level driver training, and the driving school he attended.

Those records must be produced by Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

Failure to comply could result in penalties and additional legal consequences.

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Corporations Can Vote in Some Delaware Elections, Judge Says

Corporations, partnerships, trusts, limited liability companies, and other “artificial entities” have the right to vote in Delaware elections under some circumstances, a judge said in a novel ruling Tuesday.

Judge Craig A. Karsnitz rejected an ACLU challenge to a charter permitting voting in local elections by the entities that own most of the property in the Town of Fenwick Island, one of several municipalities in the state with similar provisions. Karsnitz dismissed the lawsuit from Delaware’s Superior Court, citing “the principle of one person/entity/one vote.”

“Visions of faceless large corporations or even HAL controlling a small town are frightening and the stuff of science fiction,” but “trusts, partnerships, limited liability companies, and corporations are expressly recognized as ‘persons’ in the Delaware Code,” the judge said.

The dispute over municipal voting in a tiny coastal community represents an unusual flashpoint in the decades-long fight over the free speech rights of corporations and the dark money flooding the American electoral system. The US Supreme Court held in 2010’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that political spending counts as constitutionally protected speech.

Ever since that ruling effectively ended corporate campaign finance regulation, the prospect of outright voting by business entities has served as fodder for both critics and comedians.

Delaware, home to more corporations than people, is a fitting place for reality to outpace satire. The state constitutional provisions expressly enshrining corporate personhood reflect Delaware’s budgetary reliance on the billions in fees it raises annually from the more than 2 million business entities chartered there.

Karsnitz, writing in a 19-page opinion Tuesday, rejected an array of constitutional arguments advanced by the ACLU, including the claim that entity voting dilutes the political power of living people.

The lawsuit “does not allege discrimination based on race or political partisanship,” show “that entity property owners vote sufficiently as a bloc to usually defeat the preferred candidates of natural persons,” or assert “that Fenwick’s charter distinguishes between natural persons and entity property owners with the discriminatory intent to fence out natural persons,” the judge said.

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Luigi Mangione fangirl who celebrated murder of Brian Thompson is the daughter of CVS Health exec: report

One of the fangirl “journalists” who has publicly supported Luigi Mangione is reportedly the daughter of a senior healthcare executive at CVS Health.

Lena Weissbrot is the daughter of Reina Natero, a longtime pharmaceutical industry executive who oversees prescription drug insurance coverage rules at CVS Health. Natero has worked in the industry for more than two decades.

Weissbrot is one of three supporters of Mangione who are referred to online as “Mangionistas.” They recently gained attention during Mangione’s pre-trial hearings after receiving New York City press credentials.

Weissbrot has publicly expressed support for Mangione for the alleged murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. On Monday, outside the New York State Supreme Court, Weissbrot said Thompson’s children were “better off without him.”

According to the New York Post, Weissbrot received a Fulbright-MTV fellowship in 2015 after graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Florida State University. The grant allowed her to study “South African artists identifying as feminists who use Hip-hop music as a form of activism” at Rhodes University in South Africa.

“This has become an archetype at this point, when activists become defined as the ‘anti’ of what their parents were,” Stu Smith, analyst at the Manhattan Institute, told The Post. “There’s no self-awareness.”

Weissbrot also makes music, and a music video she appeared in that was posted on Vimeo last June includes lyrics that say, “The CEO’s a parasite and now they getting shot up.”

“While I’m looking cuter, you be looking deader, the kind of hit that makes you wish for universal healthcare,” she sang.

She has also called for “copycats” of Mangione to “put billionaires in body bags,” though she included a disclaimer stating that she doesn’t “promote, condone or endorse violence.”

According to The Post, Weissbrot denied that Reina Natero was her mother, avoiding questions about their relationship and saying her mother was unemployed and they were “rather estranged.” The next day, Natero edited her LinkedIn profile and removed her last name from it.

Public records list Natero as Weissbrot’s mother, and they lived at the same address in Weissbrot’s hometown, per The Post.

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Outrageous! Panda Express Employees Call the Police on Man for Wearing a MAGA Hat Inside and Flashing a Harmless Gesture at Cook

The disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome is now infecting employees at one of the most famous Chinese restaurants in America.

As Fox News reported on Tuesday, a conservative influencer has revealed that a pair of employees at a Panda Express in Washington state called the cops on conservative influencer Chris Sims and his friend @DannyRebel333 over a MAGA hat and flashing an innocuous gesture to a cook inside the establishment.

Fox News confirmed the incident in Lakewood on May 10.

In the video below, Sims, wearing the hat, is livestreaming his visit to Panda Express. Shortly after entering the restaurant, he notices they don’t like the hat he’s wearing.

Sims then gives a thumbs-up to one of the cooks. Upon seeing this, the employees behind the counter then kicked Sims and his friend out of the restaurant.

After exchanging words with a pair of employees outside the restaurant, Sims learns that the police have been called.

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Seattle Democrat Who Welcomed New ‘Socialist’ Mayor Now ‘Gravely Concerned’ About Businesses Fleeing the City

Seattle’s new socialist Mayor Katie Wilson made headlines a few weeks ago as she laughed off the idea of millionaires fleeing the city over new and higher taxes.

Now some people in the city, including other Democrats, are starting to realize just who they put into this position of power.

One city council member who reportedly ‘welcomed’ the change the new mayor was bringing to the city is now ‘gravely concerned’ about the parade of wealth that is going to march out of the area.

FOX News reports:

Dem who welcomed socialist mayor’s ‘change’ now sounding alarm over billionaire exodus: ‘Gravely concerned’

A Democratic city council member who once welcomed the “change” from socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is now admitting he is “gravely concerned” about the business exodus affecting the major American city.

This comes as blue states like Washington and New York face a business exodus in favor of more market-friendly red states. Starbucks, a major player in Seattle’s business scene, recently announced a major expansion into Nashville while simultaneously cutting Seattle-based corporate jobs, a move that has intensified concerns about Seattle’s business climate and economic competitiveness.

Wilson, a self-proclaimed socialist, recently went viral for laughing off the exodus of billionaires and business leaders from her city, saying, “I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are super overblown,” and adding, “the ones that leave? Like, bye.”

Now, less than five months into Wilson’s term, Seattle Democratic Councilmember Rob Saka admitted to the New York Times, “I am gravely concerned,” telling the outlet, “This is real.”

Saka previously welcomed Wilson after she defeated incumbent Bruce Harrell, saying in a statement, “The voters have spoken, calling for change and a renewed focus on affordability, community, and fighting back against a resurgent Trump agenda.”

Who is going to fund the new socialist utopia when all of the wealthy people leave Seattle?

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Walgreens Closing Chicago Location Due to Massive Theft, Local Political Leaders Who Enable the Crime Are Outraged

Walgreens has announced that it is closing a store in the Chatham neighborhood of Chicago. They claim that the store is losing upwards of a million dollars a year to theft, so the reason for the closure is no mystery. They say that this particular store loses more in theft than any other store.

And yet… The political leaders in Chicago, who allow thieves to run wild, are angry at Walgreens.

They caused this, with their soft on crime policies, yet they are mad at Walgreens for closing the location.

FOX 32 in Chicago reported:

Walgreens to close Chatham store after more than $1M loss, cites theft and declining sales

Walgreens executives revealed the store lost more than a million dollars last year, partly due to declining prescription sales but also a massive amount of store theft.

“Theft at this store is 16 percent,” Johnson said. “That’s four times above the company average.”

And the company explained that they tried to stop theft.

“Lock boxes help us protect the merchandise in the store. A lot of the time, those lock boxes were getting destroyed. And that’s at a great cost to the company,” said Jason Vasquez, Walgreens District Manager.

They say Walgreens was spending $400,000 a year on security guards in the store, but there were still attacks on store employees.

“We’ve had people jump across the counters, because we sell liquor behind the counter, taking liquor, cigarettes… That wears. That wears down. Not so much the financial piece but the endurance of that day in and day out,” said Lonnie Fuqua, the store’s manager.

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Hawaii Passes Bill To Undo Effects Of Citizens United, Urges Governor To Sign It Into Law

Friday, the Hawaii State Legislature approved a historic measure that would effectively undo the corrosive effects of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision. The bill now heads to Gov. Josh Green’s (D) desk for his signature.

The measure would redefine corporate law so that corporations are no longer granted the power to spend in the state’s politics. In response, Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:

Hawaii made history today in the fight against corporate and dark money that has sullied American politics for the past 16 years. Once the governor signs this measure into law, it will send a message that will be heard in legislatures far beyond the Aloha State. States can redefine the powers they grant to corporations. And they can choose not to give those corporations the power to spend money in state politics. This groundbreaking law makes Hawaii a leader in the national fight to get corporations out of politics and return power to the people.

The bill draws on a breakthrough legal strategy crafted by the Center for American Progress: States define the powers of the corporations they create, and a state’s corporate code can grant every power a business needs while withholding political spending power.

What would S.B. 2471 do?

The bill redefines the powers Hawaii grants to corporations that operate within the state. The powers that Hawaii grants to corporations would no longer include the power to spend in federal, state, and local elections in Hawaii. The bill also applies to out-of-state corporations that operate within Hawaii. It does not regulate corporate speech.

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