ICYMI: Russians, Pharmacies, Elections; IRS and Millionaires; Toxic Sludge; Nurses at Risk

A few important stories from the week’s news–just in case you missed them.

The Russians are coming after your prescriptions—and your vote. 

UnitedHealth owns Change Health. Change Health and CoverMyMeds route most insurance claims from most pharmacies. So when Russian-speaking ransomware ring known as Black Cat or AlphV hacked Change Health (and other medical facilities) on February 21, pharmacies and patients across the country saw snarls, delays, and denials of coverage. UnitedHealth “estimated that more than 90 percent of the nation’s 70,000-plus pharmacies have had to alter how they process electronic claims” because of the hack. 

While UnitedHealth tried to downplay the impact on patients, people around the country told stories of being denied coverage and required to pay full price for their prescriptions.  

 “The hackers stole data about patients, encrypted company files and demanded money to unlock them, prompting the company to shut down most of its network as it worked to recover. …

“The lasting issues underscore the continued fragility of critical infrastructure nearly three years after a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline prompted a shutdown of the biggest network of fuel pipelines in the United States. Service stations, particularly in the eastern half of the country, ran short of fuel as consumers rushed to gas up. …

“In December, the Justice Department said it and partner nations had hacked ALPHV, recovering hundreds of decryption keys so that victims could get their data back without paying, and some analysts predicted the group would not recover from the internal penetration.

“But as the past week has shown, ALPHV was hardly disabled. ALPHV reappeared on another site within days and announced it would exact revenge. It invited its affiliates to break into more sensitive American targets.” 

NPR notes that:

“In addition to the health care breach, Black Cat also recently claimed to have stolen classified documents and sensitive personal data about Department of Defense employees from U.S. federal contractors.”

A different constellation of Russian saboteurs is targeting the 2024 U.S. elections. They spread misinformation and fear through both social media and phony “news” websites. Candidates and right-wing media outlets (yes, Fox and all its friends) repeat and amplify the misinformation. Immigrants are prime targets of these political lies. An AP report explains: 

“For Vladimir Putin, victory in Ukraine may run through Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

“In recent weeks, Russian state media and online accounts tied to the Kremlin have spread and amplified misleading and incendiary content about U.S. immigration and border security. The campaign seems crafted to stoke outrage and polarization before the 2024 election for the White House, and experts who study Russian disinformation say Americans can expect more to come as Putin looks to weaken support for Ukraine and cut off a vital supply of aid.

“In social media posts, online videos and stories on websites, these accounts misstate the impact of immigration, highlight stories about crimes committed by immigrants, and warn of dire consequences if the U.S. doesn’t crack down at its border with Mexico. Many are misleading, filled with cherry-picked data or debunked rumors.”

Good News: Tax Day for Millionaires

The Washington Post reported that the IRS is finally going to ask thousands of people who earned more than a million dollars to file tax returns. For years, high earners, as well as wealthy corporations, have evaded taxes with impunity. 

The IRS lacked resources to pursue them. Over strenuous and continuing opposition from Republicans in Congress, the Biden administration finally got some increased funding for the IRS and directed it to pursue more complex evasion cases of high earners. The first step is sending letters asking them to file returns. 

“Thousands of high-income earners have not filed tax returns for several years, but the cash-strapped Internal Revenue Service did nothing to get them to pay what they owe.

“That changes now, the tax agency announced Thursday. The IRS will send notices to thousands of people who made more than $400,000 and did not file returns in at least one year from 2017 to 2022, the first step to collecting any tax owed.

“About 25,000 cases involve people whose income is known to the agency to be above $1 million.“ 

PFAS Sludge in Farm Fields and Food

From Maine to Texas, PFAS-contaminated sludge has sickened farmers, contaminated crops and animals, and poisoned farmland. 

[The Guardian] “In recent years, biosolids have sickened farmers, destroyed their livelihoods and contaminated food across the nation. Maine became the first state to ban biosolids after it found highly contaminated crops or water on at least 73 farms at where sludge had been spread. The state recently established a $70m fund to bail out impacted farmers. …

“The sludge spread near the Grandview, Texas farms came from the city of Fort Worth’s wastewater treatment facility, about 30 miles north. Sludge was spread on a crop field across the street from the plaintiffs’ farms in late 2022, and the highly mobile chemicals migrated to their properties, the suit alleges.

“Soon after, virtually all fish died in a pond from which the family ate what it caught. Testing showed catfish with PFOS levels in their blood as high as 74,000 ppt for PFOS – a level 30,000 times above the dosage at which humans may get sick from consuming.

“Around 10 cows and several horses on one farm have died without explanation since the sludge was spread. Testing of a stillborn calf liver found levels as high as 613,000 ppt.

“Among other health issues farmers say they have experienced since the sludge was spread are high blood pressure, respiratory problems, cardiac issues, generalized pain, skin irritations and one farmer grew a mass on her thoracic spine that threatens to leave her paralyzed.

“Testing of drinking water in the two properties’ wells found levels as high as 268,000 parts per trillion (ppt), far above the .004 ppt limit for PFOS.” 

Nurses at Risk

Female nurses kill themselves at twice the rate of the U.S. female population. Nursing organizations blame understaffing and overwork. The Guardian tells their story through the life of Tristan Kate Smith, who went from high school dreams of helping people to a career as an ER nurse to suicide at age 28. Solutions to the nursing crisis are possible—but not as long as top executive salaries and high profits remain the priority for industrial-size health care organizations. 

“All this is happening at a time when profits at many nonprofit healthcare organizations, which account for 60% of all healthcare providers nationwide, are soaring.

“The American Nurses Association (ANA), a national organization with 4 million members, has blamed ‘cost-cutting decisions’ for fueling a nursing staffing crisis.

Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the ANA, said the negative workplace effects associated with staffing shortages require ‘meaningful and lasting solutions to be implemented immediately: eliminating mandatory overtime, enforceable workplace violence prevention plans, providing mental health and wellness resources for nurses [and] transparency of nurse reimbursement.’”