Colorado May Bar Consumers From Suing AI Businesses
In Colorado, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is spearheading state legislation that would prohibit consumers from suing businesses whose AI potentially violates consumer protection laws.
51 Articles by: Helen Santoro
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Helen Santoro is is a reporter with the Lever based in Colorado.
Private Equity Is Coming for Your Teeth
Private equity firms have been quietly taking control of dental care over the last decade, pushing practices to cut costs and, in some cases, encouraging unnecessary and irreversible procedures.
Health Insurers Are Hiking Premiums as Their Profits Balloon
The US’s six largest health insurers reported massive profits last year, doling out billions on stock buybacks and dividends. That hasn’t stopped them from pushing for sharp hikes to Americans’ insurance premiums.
Big Pharma Can Tweak Drugs to Keep Generics Off the Market
Taking advantage of a broken patent system, Big Pharma is making minor tweaks to medications just to keep affordable generics off the market, a new report suggests. They’ve made billions of dollars in the process.
Big Pharma Puppet Groups Are Keeping Your Drug Prices High
Six so-called patient advocacy groups are working to advance corporate profits in the pharmaceutical industry by routinely lobbying in line with Big Pharma’s priorities and opposing drug price negotiations.
The FDA’s New Culture of Secrecy
Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the FDA has purged public health information on vaccines, contraception, HIV, and more. Internal FDA emails reveal deceptive practices that are anything but the “radical transparency” Kennedy promised.
The Insurer Making It Harder to Get Vital Asthma Medicine
Health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield just adopted a policy that will force many people with serious asthma and allergy conditions to self-inject vital medications at home. The move raises risks for patients while cutting costs for the insurance giant.
Hospitals Are Cashing In on Real Estate
Nonprofit hospital chains are buying up billions of dollars’ worth of real estate across the US, dodging property taxes using their charity status.
Berkshire Hathaway Wants to Stiff Makeup Poisoning Victims
Warren Buffett’s conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, profited off sale of a makeup ingredient that has been linked to cancer. The company is using fancy legal footwork to try to get out of paying remuneration to its victims.
You’ve Already Paid for Overpriced Weight-Loss Drugs
The federal government has spent $6.2 billion on research and development for weight-loss drugs. Now, thanks to Big Pharma markups, Americans are paying up to 11 times more for these drugs than patients in other countries, despite already footing the bill.
Big Companies Are Already Asking Trump for Favors
Amazon helped fund Donald Trump’s inauguration. The retail giant and the insurer UnitedHealth waited less than a day to start begging the new administration to shut down their shareholders’ calls for transparency.
Health Insurers’ “$0 Copay” Drug Assistance Scam
Drugmakers offer “copay assistance programs” to help people afford expensive medicines. But health insurers are milking these programs for billions of dollars in extra profits while denying patients the benefits they were designed to provide.
Wall Street Is Making Your Doctor Visits More Expensive
In the US, more and more doctors are now affiliated with the hospital conglomerates or Wall Street firms taking over the health care system — and these doctors tend to charge significantly more for office visits than independent practitioners do.
Drug Ads Misinform Patients and Raise Health Care Costs
Direct-to-consumer drug ads are prohibited in almost all countries besides the US. By leading doctors to prescribe unnecessary and more expensive treatments at the request of their patients, they also raise health care costs across the board.
On-Demand Nursing Is Dangerous for Nurses and Patients
Big Tech and Wall Street are deploying an on-demand nursing model across America. Created to solve a nursing shortage that doesn’t exist, it creates unsafe conditions for both medical professionals and patients.
Health Insurers’ Profits Are Reaching New Heights
The top five health insurers have raked in over $371 billion in profits since ACA passed. Over 40% of that went to the parent company of CEO Brian Thompson’s UnitedHealthcare, UnitedHealth Group — which denies nearly one in three claims from its policyholders.
Trump’s IRS Nominee Wanted to Go After the Humane Society
Donald Trump’s pick to head the Internal Revenue Service pressed the agency to investigate and consider stripping the country’s leading animal welfare group, the Humane Society, of its tax status. As IRS chief, he’d be in a position to make that happen.
Here’s What Dems Could Accomplish in the Lame-Duck Period
Democrats could actually do a lot in the months before Donald Trump takes office to impose guardrails against the next four years of deregulatory and extreme pro-business policies.
The Rich Are Hoarding Their Wealth Using Charity Funds
Wall Street–backed charity funds provide ultrawealthy donors with massive charitable tax breaks — yet operate without any requirement to ever distribute the money to working charities.
Joe Biden Is Giving More Leniency to Corporate Lawbreakers
The Biden Justice Department just announced it is making it easier for corporate lawbreakers to avoid prosecution — even if they have committed multiple crimes, earned significant profit from their wrongdoing, and failed to self-disclose the misconduct.