News

News

May 19, 2025

Lawmakers urge jury trial in UnitedHealth Medicare Advantage fraud case

Lawmakers is urging a federal court to allow a lawsuit alleging UnitedHealth Group overcharged the federal government for Medicare Advantage claims to continue. 

Led by Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, 29 U.S. representatives signed on to an amicus brief filed May 15. The lawmakers argued the nearly decade-old case should proceed to a jury trial. 

The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, was first filed by a whistleblower in 2011, and the Justice Department joined the case in 2017. The government alleged that between 2010 and 2017, UnitedHealth received $2.1 billion in Medicare Advantage payments for diagnoses not supported by medical records. 

In March, a special master, a retired judge appointed by the court to evaluate the case, recommended it be thrown out. The special master argued the federal government failed to provide evidence the claims at question in the cases were not backed by medical records. 

The Justice Department has urged the court to allow the case to continue. 

In the amicus brief, attorneys representing the lawmakers argued that throwing out the case would “set a negative precedent.” 

“A ruling in favor of United would dispose of the present case prematurely before a jury has the opportunity to weigh in on United’s conduct, and would embolden other insurers to continue gaming the MA program with practices that harm American taxpayers and the elderly,” the attorneys wrote. 

Medicare Advantage plans are reimbursed by the federal government based on beneficiaries’ health risk status. Nearly every major Medicare Advantage plan has been accused of, or settled, allegations of upcoding — the practice of making patients appear sicker than they are to receive higher reimbursements from the government. 

Chinese Regime Claims It Bears No Responsibility for US Fentanyl Crisis

Experts said that fentanyl has played a key role in the U.S.–China tariff war and that there are four scenarios for the conflict’s future development.

The Chinese communist regime has said that fentanyl is a U.S. domestic problem, not China’s responsibility.

The statement came as the two countries reached a truce in the tariff war after talks in Geneva on May 12. The 20 percent U.S. tariff imposed on Chinese goods linked to illicit fentanyl, however, hasn’t been lifted.

At the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s regular news conference on May 13, when asked about the fentanyl-related tariffs, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that “fentanyl is the U.S.’s problem, not China’s.”

He also accused the United States of imposing unreasonable tariffs on China over the fentanyl issue and demanded that the United States stop blaming China for the fentanyl crisis.

On May 14, when asked again about the fentanyl-linked tariffs, Lin said that after the United States levied two rounds of tariffs on Chinese goods based on the fentanyl issue, China responded with tariff and non-tariff countermeasures, which “remain in force.”

The United States and China reached a deal, reducing most of the tariffs put in place since April. However, the two countries did not reach an agreement on tariffs related to the fentanyl issue during the talks in Geneva, despite U.S. officials making the importance of combating the deadly substance clear to China.

FBI Identifies Suspect in Palm Springs Fertility Clinic Bombing

Officials are treating the incident ‘as an intentional act of terrorism,’ an FBI assistant director said.

An FBI official said on May 18 that the bureau believes that it has identified the suspect involved in a bombing near a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California, a day earlier.

Akil Davis, assistant director at the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said at a press conference that a 25-year-old from Twentynine Palms, California, is believed to be the bombing suspect.

“We are fairly confident that that subject is Guy Edward Bartkus,” he told reporters, noting that the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force believes that Bartkus was the deceased “subject found near” a vehicle that contained the bomb.

Biden Diagnosed With Aggressive Type of Prostate Cancer

A statement from the former president’s personal office said the family is ’reviewing treatment options.’

Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer, his office said in a statement on May 18.

“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms,” his office stated. “On [May 16], he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.

“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”