Prognosis

Hack That Paralyzed US Health Care Turns Up Scrutiny on Insurer

Lawmakers are set to question UnitedHealth’s CEO on the conglomerate’s size following what is likely the US’s largest-ever health-care data breach

UnitedHealth Group Chief Executive Andrew Witty is expected to testify to House and Senate committees about the Change Healthcare cyberattack.

Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
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When a cyberattack on Change Healthcare paralyzed much of the US health-care system, some lawmakers saw it as proof its parent company, UnitedHealth Group Inc., was too big.

UnitedHealth Chief Executive Andrew Witty saw it differently. He has said that the company’s size kept the hack, which crippled a network that handled $2 trillion in health claims a year, from being more harmful. It was “important for the country that we own Change Healthcare,” Witty said earlier this month.