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HEALTHCARE
NEWS
15 most common passwords
By Emily Rappleye
M
ay 2 was World Pass-
word Day — celebrate
by strengthening your
passwords.
Step 1? Recognizing when your
passwords need some work.
SplashData produces an annual
list of the worst passwords based
on more than 5 million leaked
passwords. Here are the top 15
worst passwords of 2018:
1. 123456
2. password
3. 123456789
4. 12345678
5. 12345
6. 111111
7. 1234567
8. sunshine
9. qwerty
10. iloveyou
11. princess
12. admin
13. welcome
14. 666666
15. abc123
Other passwords that made
the top 100 included "football,"
"monkey," and for the first time,
"Donald." n
Judge steps down from UnitedHealth
case over 'immoral' denial of cancer
treatment
By Morgan Haefner
A
federal judge recused himself from a class-action case against
UnitedHealthcare because the health insurer denied coverage
of radiation treatment that could have treated his own cancer,
according to BenefitsPRO.
U.S. District Judge Robert Scola, who survived prostate cancer, recused
himself from Richard Cole v. United Healthcare Insurance Co. in the South-
ern District of Florida April 29. The plaintiff, Mr. Cole, was diagnosed with
prostate cancer in April 2018. UnitedHealthcare refused to cover proton
beam radiation therapy to treat his tumors, spurring Mr. Cole to file a puta-
tive class-action complaint against UnitedHealthcare on April 3.
In his order of recusal, Mr. Scola, who ultimately treated his cancer with
surgery, said he could not rule on the case "fairly and impartially" due
to the life-saving option proton radiation gave him. He also noted that
UnitedHealthcare initially denied his friend's six-figure medical bills for
proton therapy, and only reimbursed him $150,000 after being threat-
ened with litigation, according to BenefitsPRO.
"To deny a patient this treatment, if it is available, is immoral and bar-
baric," Mr. Scola wrote.
In an April 29 statement to BenefitsPRO, UnitedHealthcare spokesper-
son Maria Gordon Shydlo said the insurer "bases its medical policies
and coverage decisions — including for proton beam therapy — on the
prevailing published clinical and scientific evidence." n
Trump pushes
legislation to
end 'outrageous
medical bills'
By Kelly Gooch
P
resident Donald Trump is urging Con-
gress to pass legislation to end surprise
billing that can leave hospital patients
with massive out-of-pocket costs, according to
e Washington Post.
Six things to know:
1. President Trump spoke about surprise medi-
cal bills May 9 at the White House.
2. e president said lawmakers should work
to end healthcare practices that are charging
patients for "unexpected healthcare costs that
are absolutely out of control. No family should
be blindsided by outrageous medical bills," ac-
cording to the Post.
3. e administration said it specifically wants
to protect patients from surprise medical bills
for emergency care from an out-of-network
provider, when they couldn't pick their care-
giver. Federal officials said legislation should
also address surprise medical bills that occur
aer a patient receives care from an out-of-
network provider they reasonably thought was
in-network.
4. President Trump's remarks come aer a Kai-
ser Family Foundation poll released last month
showed that at least three-fourths of Americans
believe the federal government should protect
patients from being on the hook for the cost of
unplanned out-of-network healthcare, including
emergency care and out-of-network treatment
from physicians or specialists.
5. Senior administration officials told the Post
and other media that federal officials also want
to require hospitals to notify patients receiving
elective surgery up front if they will be receiving
any care from out-of-network staff, and if so,
require facilities to give patients written price
estimates and the ability to decide whether to
proceed.
6. A group of senators — including Sens. Bill
Cassidy, R-La., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H,
who have been working on the issue with their
colleagues — are reportedly slated to introduce
surprise-billing legislation this month. Rep-
resentatives in the House are also working on
legislation. n
