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Shareholders urge UnitedHealth to analyze impact of healthcare denials By Reuters

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Shareholders urge UnitedHealth to analyze impact of healthcare denials By Reuters


By Amina Niasse and Ross Kerber

NEW YORK / BOSTON (Reuters) – UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:) shareholders on Wednesday said they requested the company prepare a report on the costs and public health impact related to its “practices that limit or delay access to healthcare.”

If the proposal makes it to a vote at the company’s annual meeting it would raise a charged topic after a senior executive was gunned down in Manhattan last month.

A spokesperson for UnitedHealth said the company will respond to shareholder proposals for its 2025 proxy statement once it files the document that serves as an agenda for its annual meeting, which has not yet been scheduled. In recent years, the company has issued its proxy in April ahead of a June annual meeting.

Those who filed the resolution include religious groups led by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary of Quebec, and Trillium Asset Management.

The group proposed an analysis of how prior authorization, or approval required by an insurer before a patient can receive medical care, and denials of medical services lead patients to forgo treatment.

“The pattern of delays and denials of necessary medical care by UnitedHealth and other insurance companies harms more than just the patient themselves,” Wendell Potter, president of the Center for Health & Democracy and a former Cigna (NYSE:) executive, said in a statement sent in support of the resolution by the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility.

UnitedHealth runs the country’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, as well as pharmacy benefit manager Optum and medical practices.

The killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December galvanized criticism of U.S. health insurers, with swarms of patients describing delayed or denied care and accusing companies of using deceptive practices.

Luigi Mangione, 26, who was accused of killing Thompson, pleaded not guilty in a New York court in December after receiving thousands of dollars in public donations shortly after his arrest.

In a December statement, UnitedHealth said it approves and pays for an average of 90% of medical claims submitted.

“Highly inaccurate and grossly misleading information has been circulated about our company’s treatment of insurance claims,” UnitedHealth said.

UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty in a message to employees described Thompson as “one of the good guys,” adding the company would continue to service the most vulnerable Americans.




This story originally appeared on Investing

Fed expected to pump brake on rate cuts in 2025 as Trump policies stir concern

NYPost
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Fed expected to pump brake on rate cuts in 2025 as Trump policies stir concern

Federal Reserve officials at their meeting Dec. 17-18 expected to dial back the pace of interest rate cuts this year in the face of persistently elevated inflation and the threat of widespread tariffs and other potential policy changes.

Minutes from the meeting, released after the typical three-week lag, also showed clear division among the Fed’s 19 policymakers. Some officials expressed support for keeping the central bank’s key rate unchanged, the minutes said. And a majority of the officials said the decision to cut rates was a close call.

Ultimately, the Fed chose to cut its key rate by a quarter-point to about 4.3%. One official, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, dissented in favor of keeping rates unchanged.

The Federal Reserve last month cut its key rate by a quarter-point to about 4.3% in a close-call decision. Chairman Powell, above AFP via Getty Images

Still, there was widespread agreement in the minutes that after reducing rates for three straight meetings, Fed officials felt it was time to undertake a more deliberate approach to their key rate.

Fewer rate cuts will likely mean that borrowing costs for consumers and businesses — including for homes, cars, and credit cards — will remain elevated this year.

Policymakers said that the Fed “was at or near the point at which it would be appropriate to slow the pace of policy easing,” the minutes said. In projections released after the meeting, Fed officials said they expect just two cuts next year, down from an earlier projection of four.

The minutes also showed that “almost all” Fed policymakers see a greater risk than before that inflation could stay higher than they expect, in part because inflation has lingered in several recent readings and because of “the likely effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy.”

The Fed’s staff economists considered the economy’s future path particularly uncertain at the December meeting, in part because of the incoming Trump administration’s “potential changes to trade, immigration, fiscal, and regulatory policies,” which the staff said are difficult to assess in terms of how they will impact the economy. As a result they included several different scenarios for the economy’s future path in their presentation to policymakers.

Fed officials have started to consider the potential impact of President-elect Trump’s proposals, such as widespread tariffs, on the economy and inflation next year REUTERS

And the staff projected that inflation this year would be about the same as in 2024 because they expected Trump’s proposed tariffs would keep inflation elevated.

Fed officials sent stock markets plummeting Dec. 18 after they reduced their outlook for rate cuts. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference after the meeting that the decision to reduce rates had been a “close call.”

Powell also said that recent signs of stubborn inflation have caused many Fed officials to pare back their expectations for rate cuts. Inflation, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, ticked up to 2.4% in November, compared with a year ago, above the Fed’s target. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, it was 2.8%.

Inflation, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, ticked up to 2.4% in November, compared with a year ago, above the Fed’s target. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, it was 2.8%. AP

In addition, some officials have started to consider the potential impact of President-elect Trump’s proposals, such as widespread tariffs, on the economy and inflation next year, the minutes said.

Economists at Goldman Sachs, for example, have estimated that Trump’s tariff proposals could push inflation by nearly a half-percentage point later this year.

Earlier Wednesday, Fed governor Christopher Waller said that he still supported rate reductions this year, in part because he expects inflation to steadily head down to the Fed’s 2% target. He also said he didn’t expect tariffs would worsen inflation and wouldn’t change his preference for lowering borrowing costs.

Waller also said, in a question and answer session, that he didn’t think Trump would ultimately impose the universal tariffs he promised in the campaign.



This story originally appeared on NYPost

Chuck Schumer lies about Biden mental decline, Letters

NYPost
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Chuck Schumer lies about Biden mental decline, Letters

The Issue: Sen. Chuck Schumer defending President Biden’s record and mental acuity.

Sen. Chuck Schumer said he thinks President Biden has an amazing record as president (“Chuck playing ‘mind’ games,” Jan. 6).

Schumer calls Biden a patriot and said the president’s mental acuity was great.

Well, this patriot let a Chinese spy balloon fly coast to coast.

His amazing record includes a botched pullout from Afghanistan, record high inflation and allowing millions of unvetted migrants to cross the border illegally.

Schumer claims that suggestions that Biden was losing it mentally were just “right-wing propaganda.”

If Schumer truly believes what he says, maybe we should have his mental acuity checked.

Tom Vespo

Bethpage

What is Chuck Schumer smoking?

The only pieces of legislation Biden signed were cash giveaways.

The so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” was a Green New Deal handout to Democratic donors, NGOs and others.

Biden and Schumer will be remembered respectively as the worst president and Senate majority leader in history.

I wish President-elect Donald Trump had a mean and vindictive streak, so these two (among others) might be prosecuted.

Charlie Honadel

Venice, Fla.

Sen. Schumer apparently thought nothing of compromising the national security of the United States to help keep an enfeebled commander-in-chief at the helm.

He and every other Democrat engaged in this dangerous, disloyal behavior should have their access to top-secret briefings and classified materials reviewed and hopefully revoked.

Schumer and his cabal of corrupt, deep-state, power-hungry, Dem narcissists have proven they simply cannot be trusted with the life and safety of American citizens.

Jim Soviero

East Setauket

I am disappointed that interviewers of the good senator do not ask him outright: “Do you consider the mental acuity of President Biden to be equal to or better than yours?”

Certainly the voters in New York deserve an answer before the next election.

Laz L. Schneider

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

President Biden’s inner circle has made the 25th Amendment insufficient for ensuring that a president is competent to remain in office.

The amendment was supposed to protect the people from unelected advisers taking over for an incapacitated president, but it has failed.

We must have an amendment that ensures this cannot happen again.

The Supreme Court should have the responsibility and authority to determine whether the president is competent as an additional means beyond the current provisions.

Congressional impeachment and removal are too easily thwarted by partisan politics.

Tom Henion

Stafford, Va.

When I read how Sen. Schumer defended Biden against criticism over his mental state and cognitive decline, I once again realized that this man simply cannot ever be believed.

Schumer is as phony as a $3 bill.

It was a beautiful thing to see him get unseated as Senate majority leader when Democrats became the minority.

The only thing better would be to see him lose his Senate seat al­to­gether.

Alan Brooks

Brooklyn

Chuck Schumer believes that President Biden has had an amazing record.

If that’s true, then we urgently need to assess Schumer’s mental acuity.

It seems these people never stop lying to American citizens.

J. Mancuso

Naples, Fla.

Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for winning the “blatantly lying politician of the year” award.

President Biden is in great shape.

Right, Chuck?

His mental acuity could not be better and we shouldn’t believe our lying eyes.

Sure, Chuck: According to you he’s been a great president. Well, his policies resulted in an open border, a derailed economy, high gas prices and a catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The list goes on and on.

Mike Klarman

Branford, Conn.

Want to weigh in on today’s stories? Send your thoughts (along with your full name and city of residence) to letters@nypost.com. Letters are subject to editing for clarity, length, accuracy, and style.



This story originally appeared on NYPost

upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 to avoid ‘security fiasco’ – Computerworld

Computerworld
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upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 to avoid ‘security fiasco’ – Computerworld



Cybersecurity company Eset is now urging Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11 or another operating system well in advance of Oct. 14, 2025, when support for Windows 10 ends.

into”It’s about five to twelve minutes to avoid a security fiasco in 2025,” Eset security expert Thorsten Urbanski said, according to Bleeping Computer .

Eset estimates there are around 32 million computers still running Windows 10 in Germany alone, roughly 65% of all devices in the country. Windows 11 runs on 16.5 million devices, corresponding to approximately 33%. According to Statcounter, global figures for Windows 10 and 11 use are similar.



This story originally appeared on Computerworld

PUBG will get AI-powered NPCs

Engadget
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PUBG will get AI-powered NPCs


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PUBG: Battlegrounds will add non-player characters powered by NVIDIA ACE generative AI. These PUBG Allies are being dubbed Co-Playable Characters, and they can have real-time conversations with a player about what’s happening in a match. They can also adapt their strategies and gameplay to work with the player’s style. Krafton, the battle royale’s publisher, demoed this technology at CES 2025.

“We will continue to innovate user experiences by integrating CPC into our games and aim to establish it as a benchmark for the gaming industry,” said Kangwook Lee, head of Krafton’s deep learning division. Krafton will also publish upcoming life simulator inZOI, and had a CES demo of a CPC in that game as well.

NVIDIA its generative AI tech, the Avatar Cloud Engine, during a keynote at Computex 2023. The ACE generative AI is also present in the multiplayer title Mecha BREAK, which at Gamescom last year. The Krafton games are using on-device small language models built with NVIDIA ACE. The publisher did not specify in its press release when it will start rolling out CPCs.



This story originally appeared on Engadget

Trump Accused Of Cheating In 2024 By Getting Town Hall Questions In Advance

PoliticusUSA
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Trump Accused Of Cheating In 2024 By Getting Town Hall Questions In Advance


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There was often a disconnect between the Trump who sounded broken when he was off his teleprompter on the campaign trail, and the guy who appeared at town halls televised by Fox News. Some of it was due to Fox’s pre-taping and editing Trump’s appearances, but allegedly that wasn’t enough. Before a January 2024 town hall, somebody leaked the questions to Trump’s campaign.

CNN reported:

“About thirty minutes before the town hall was due to start, a senior aide started getting text messages from a person on the inside at Fox. Holy s–t, the team thought. They were images of all the questions Trump would be asked and the planned follow-ups, down to the exact wording. Jackpot. This was like a student getting a peek at the test before the exam started,” Isenstadt writes.

,,,

But “with the questions in hand” ahead of the telecast, the team “workshopped answers.”

The same book also alleges that Fox’s Maria Bartiromo has given Trump questions in advance for her interviews.

Trump made a big production out of claiming that Hillary Clinton’s campaign got debate questions in advance during the Democratic primary in 2016, but it turns out that it was Trump who was cheating in 2024.

The Trump team doesn’t want to hear any of this, and they claim that Trump won because he was so accessible, but it helps the candidate to have the questions in advance.

We will discuss below the ramifications of the allegations that Trump cheated and what it means for both Trump and Fox News.



This story originally appeared on Politicususa

LA’s Democrat Mayor Karen Bass Slashed Fire Department Funding by $17.6 Million, Tweets About Fires From Africa as Hydrants Run Dry, City Burns | The Gateway Pundit

TheGatewayPundit
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LA’s Democrat Mayor Karen Bass Slashed Fire Department Funding by .6 Million, Tweets About Fires From Africa as Hydrants Run Dry, City Burns | The Gateway Pundit


LA’s Democrat Mayor Karen Bass slashed Fire Department funding by $17.6 million a few months before the fires erupted on Tuesday.

This is the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history and the city is not prepared to contain the fire because of Democrats like Karen Bass.

Karen Bass was tweeting from Africa as her city burned down.

The LA Mayor was in Africa attending the presidential inauguration in Ghana as tens of thousands of Los Angeles residents evacuated and watched their homes burn down.

Fire hydrants ran dry due to Democrat incompetence but Karen Bass saved the day by tweeting from Africa.

The New York Post reported:

The Los Angeles Fire Department had its budget cut by a staggering $17.6 million this financial year, records show — as fire crews continue to battle out-of-control blazes ravaging the City of Angels.

The drastic decrease in funding for the fire department was the second-largest cut to come out of embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass‘ 2024-25 fiscal year budget, according to city figures.

The police budget, meanwhile, increased by $126 million, a graphic shared by LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia shows.

Bass had initially wanted to cut the fire department by even more — a staggering $23 million.

The details on Bass’ budget slashing resurfaced as the mayor faced widespread backlash Wednesday after it was revealed she was away in Africa for the Ghana president’s inauguration — even as wind-whipped wildfires turned parts of her city into an apocalyptic hellscape.

Update: Fresh off the plane from Ghana, Mayor Karen Bass met with Governor Newsom and Los Angeles firefighters for a photo op with charred houses as the perfect backdrop.

WATCH:




This story originally appeared on TheGateWayPundit

Plan to sanction people smuggling gangs is a bold and novel departure – but can the government make it bite? | UK News

SkyNews
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Plan to sanction people smuggling gangs is a bold and novel departure – but can the government make it bite? | UK News


So can you stop people smugglers by lumbering them with sanctions? That is the government’s latest idea, and it is bold and innovative.

It will certainly get attention, even if that doesn’t mean it will work. But it is another effort by this government to differentiate itself from the leaders who came before.

In a nutshell, the idea is to cut the financing to what the Foreign Office refers to as “organised immigration networks” and is intended to deter “smugglers from profiting off the trafficking of innocent people”.

So far, so convincing. The rhetoric is good. The reality may be more difficult.

For one thing, and we await actual details of what’s going to be done, this raises an enormous question of how this can be accomplished.

Image:
A view of small boats and outboard motors used by people thought to be migrants to cross the Channel at a warehouse facility in Dover. Pic: PA

Some of the people smugglers bringing people across the Channel are based in Britain, but most aren’t. And as a general rule, they’re quite hard to track down.

I know that, because I’ve met some of them.

In Kurdistan, I drank tea with a cheerful man, Karwan, who had been responsible for smuggling a thousand people into Europe.

He had absolutely no fear of being caught, and no sense that he was even breaking the law.

The smuggling gang did not want to reveal their faces. From Parsons October 2023 shorthand
Image:
The smuggling gang, who we met in October 2023, did not want to reveal their faces


We meet that afternoon. The smuggler, *Karwan, turns up with three other men, all members of his group - he doesn't like the word "gang" - and accepts the offer of a cup of hot tea. From Parsons VT for shorthand October 2023

Instead, Karwan considered that he was doing a duty to Kurds, allowing them to escape from the hardship of their nation to a more prosperous life in other countries, including Britain. Or, at least, that’s what he said.

How exactly Britain could impose sanctions on him is hard to imagine.

Nor is it hard to think of fear now creeping into the minds of the various smugglers I’ve met during years of reporting from the beaches of northern France.

These people are well aware that they’re breaking the law. You can hardly spend your time dodging French police and claim to be innocent.

Guns are becoming more commonplace in migrant camps. The spectre of sanctions won’t stop them.

Man suspected of supplying small boats for Channel migrant crossings arrested
Image:
Life jackets allegedly belonging to a gang of people smugglers which were seized by police in November

So the question is whether the British government can track down the people at the very top of these organisations and find a way of levying financial sanctions that bite.

Presumably, if these people were in Britain, they’d be arrested, with the prospect of their assets being frozen.

So imposing sanctions will probably involve working alongside European countries, coordinating action and sharing information. A process that has become more complicated since Brexit.

Sanctions have previously worked well when targeted towards high-profile people and organisations with a clear track record.

Read more from Sky News:
Why does Trump want to buy Greenland?
Why are there wildfires in January?

The oligarchs who have propped up Vladimir Putin’s regime, for instance, or companies trying to procure armaments for hostile states. All have been targeted by a coalition of nations.

But this idea is novel – unilateral for a start, even if, one assumes, the French, Germans, Belgians and others have been warned in advance.

It’s also not quite clear how it will work – organised crime is famously flexible and if you successfully sanction one person, then someone else is likely to take over.

As for levying sanctions on the smuggling leaders in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Albania and beyond – well, good luck.

An inflatable dinghy carrying migrants makes its way towards England in the English Channel. Pic: Reuters
Image:
An inflatable dinghy carrying migrants makes its way towards England in the English Channel. Pic: Reuters

What it does is to draw that distinction between the recent past, when the Rwanda plan was the main ambition, and Keir Starmer’s reliance on focusing on criminality and working together with partners.

And one other note. For years, the government has talked about people crossing the Channel as illegal migrants, even though there is a dispute between UK and international law about whether these people are actually breaking the law.

Now the Foreign Office is using the term “irregular migration”. Is this a change of tone, or just a stylistic whim? Just as with the sanctions, we will wait and see.



This story originally appeared on Skynews

Consider This from NPR : NPR

NPR
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Consider This from NPR : NPR


A Firefighter fights the flames from the Palisades Fire burning the Theatre Palisades during a powerful windstorm on Wednesday in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Apu Gomes/Getty Images


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Apu Gomes/Getty Images

A Firefighter fights the flames from the Palisades Fire burning the Theatre Palisades during a powerful windstorm on Wednesday in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Apu Gomes/Getty Images

Extremely dry conditions coupled with high winds have led to an explosive wildfire situation in southern California.

Multiple fires have erupted across the Los Angeles area since Tuesday. Tens of thousands of people have had to evacuate, and firefighters are struggling to contain the flames.

Adria Kloke is one of the of people who has had to flee. She packed up her belongings, along with her cat, and left her home in Pacific Palisades on Tuesday. Kloke shares her story with NPR.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org

Email us at considerthis@npr.org

This episode was produced by Connor Donevan and Marc Rivers and Kai McNamee, with audio engineering by Tiffany Castro

It was edited by Courtney Dorning.



This story originally appeared on NPR

Eaton fire, Palisades fire as seen from space: Satellite images

LATimes
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Eaton fire, Palisades fire as seen from space: Satellite images


The wind-blown fires sweeping over large swaths of Los Angeles County have destroyed at least 1,000 structures and caused thousands of people to evacuate their homes. Two people have been confirmed dead.

New satellite images help to form a clearer timeline of the chaos as three major blazes erupted: the Palisades, Eaton and Hurst fires.

11 a.m. Tuesday — Palisades fire is visible from space

(Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Los Angeles Fire Department officials first put out word of a brush fire in Pacific Palisades on X at 10:41 a.m. A little more than two hours later, the fire had ballooned in size and was visible from space.

The video below from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (CIRRA and NOAA) shows the fire growing and sending a plume of smoke out over the Pacific Ocean.

4 p.m. Tuesday — Palisades fire expands as the sun sets

The Palisades fire is seen from space at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

(Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

The Palisades and Eaton fires are shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

(Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

As the sun began to set over Los Angeles on Tuesday, a trail of smoke from the Palisades fire was visible over the Pacific.

Evacuation orders throughout the Palisades had been in effect for several hours.

7 p.m. Tuesday — Eaton fire is visible from space

The Palisades and Eaton fires are shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The Palisades and Eaton fires are shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

(Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Angeles National Forest officials announced that the service’s firefighters were responding along with Los Angeles County Fire to a brush fire near Eaton Canyon in Altadena at 6:38 p.m.

The outbreak of multiple major fires would stretch first responders: At 6:26 p.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department announced that all off-duty members should call in with their availability to be recalled.

By 7 p.m., the Eaton fire was visible from space. At 7:25, evacuation orders went out on X.

As the night continued, CIRA video showed the two fires expanding.

11 p.m. Tuesday — Hurst fire becomes visible

Three fires (Palisades, Eaton and Hurst) are seen from space at 11 p.m. on Jan. 7, 2025

(Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

With officials already scrambling to handle two major fires, a third blaze erupted near Sylmar as winds howled.

The Los Angeles Fire Department sent out an alert at 10:31 p.m. about a brush fire in Sylmar. It would be renamed the Hurst fire shortly thereafter.

The three fires were first seen from space at 11 Tuesday night, and would all be visible until morning.

9 a.m. Wednesday — Palisades and Eaton fires rage on in daylight

The Palisades and Eaton fires dump smoke over the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 8, 2025 at 9 a.m.

(Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

By daybreak, the two bigger fires — Palisades and Eaton — had grown significantly, fueled by high wind gusts throughout the night.

They cast smoke over much of Los Angeles, worsening air quality across a broad swath of the city, and the smoke trail could be seen out over the Pacific Ocean.

1 p.m. Wednesday — Smoke blows out over the Pacific

Satellite image shows smoke from fires in Los Angeles blowing out over the Pacific Ocean at 1 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2025

Satellite image shows smoke from fires in Los Angeles blowing out over the Pacific Ocean at 1 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2025

(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

As of 2 p.m. Wednesday, the Hurst fire had burned 505 acres, the Eaton fire 10,600 acres and the Palisades fire 15,832 acres.

With high winds expected to continue into the evening, officials warned that the emergency was not yet under control.




This story originally appeared on LA Times

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