Free Republic

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) is under investigation by the Department of Justice for potential Medicare fraud. The probe is centered around the insurer's Medicare Advantage business, The Wall Street Journal reported. UnitedHealth shares are down ~8% in after-hours trading Wednesday evening. The healthcare-fraud unit at DoJ is spearheading the investigation. That division investigates transgressions such as kickbacks that lead to higher Medicare and Medicare payments, the newspaper noted. The probe is the latest headache for the health insurance giant, which just had an unexpected CEO change on Tuesday. Earlier this month, a group of shareholders sued the company alleging it hid...

State Farm General, the largest home insurer in California, has been given the green light to hike its prices across the state, sparking fierce backlash from consumer advocates. The insurance provider has been granted permission by a judge and Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to raise its home insurance prices by an average of 17 percent. Premiums for condo owners and renters will see prices rise an average of 15 percent. But the worst affected group will be rental home owners, who will have to fork out an extra 38 percent on average. The ruling comes after a year-long bitter back...

Gavin Newsom is putting new conditions on a program offering healthcare to illegal migrants as the state continues to face a budget crisis, though he claims its Donald Trump's fault. California is facing a $12 billion deficit thanks in part to the progressive liberal - who may have presidential ambitions - policies, including a state-funded health care program for immigrants living in California without legal status. The deep blue state was among one of the first states to extend free health care benefits to all poor adults regardless of their immigration status last year, an ambitious plan touted by Newsom...

Undisclosed communication devices reportedly discovered in Chinese-manufactured solar panels and related equipment have sparked concerns among U.S. officials about the vulnerability of the nation’s power grid, according to a Reuters report. These “rogue” devices, found over the past nine months, could potentially destabilize energy infrastructure and trigger widespread blackouts, sources familiar with the matter told the outlet. The undocumented devices, including cellular radios, were identified in solar power inverters, batteries, electric vehicle chargers, and heat pumps produced by several Chinese suppliers. ... The U.S. has found Trojan horse communication devices in Chinese-made solar power inverters. They are used to connect...

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Stock market watchdog Quiver Quantitative announced Monday that Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had made millions in the market since that day’s opening bell. The representative allegedly raked in $4.7 million, according to Quiver’s estimates. It claimed that figure inflated her overall net worth to $261.9 million. An X account dedicated to tracking Rep. Pelosi’s stock market activity added the sum amounted to 26 times her annual salary. A representative of Rep. Pelosi’s office told The National News Desk Tuesday the former House speaker does not own any stocks, adding that the tracked account belongs to her husband...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom released his revised state budget proposal for FY 2025–2026 on Wednesday. After having a roughly balanced budget in January, the state must now "close an estimated $12 billion shortfall to balance the budget" because of President Donald Trump's tariffs, which have "driven a downgrade in both the economic and revenue forecasts" and increased spending for the state's Medicaid program. Despite this shortfall, Newsom's budget calls for maintaining or extending expensive government programs, including the state's cap-and-trade program, which was set to expire in 2030. Launched in 2013 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the state,...

The Drug Pricing ScrambleFor the same pharmaceutical products, US prices can be anywhere between two and ten times higher in US markets compared to prices across the border. Nor is importation allowed, even though this would drive prices toward equilibrium by facilitating market competition. This problem has persisted for decades. US taxpayers and health insurance subscribers subsidize pharmaceutical products for the rest of the world. While many politicians have denounced this problem, and sworn to fix it with a genuine competitive market, the barriers have traced to the same source: entrenched industrial interests that like the rigged monopolistic system of...

Qatar signs an agreement with Boeing to purchase 160 aircraft — the largest widebody aircraft order in the American company's history

Trump’s Riyadh Speech Heralds The End Of Failed Neocon Foreign PolicyTruly looking out for American interests means refraining from trying to remake foreign countries in our own image.In what was probably the most important presidential speech in decades, President Donald Trump repudiated decades of failed interventionist U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East during an official visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday.Not only did Trump lambast neocon “nation-building” in the region, he more or less vowed never to pursue the kinds of neocon misadventures that spilt American blood and treasure over the past 25 years in the insane pursuit...

The anti-science freak-out predicting President Donald Trump’s tariffs would explode consumer prices has now been debunked as yet another legacy media hoax. The far-left Politico grudgingly admits: “Trump tariffs have little impact on prices so far, defying grim forecasts,” reads the headline. “Inflation climbed at the slowest pace since early 2021 in April, surprising economists who anticipated tariff-related increases,” reads the sub-headline. Notice how the propagandists at Politico lay the blame on “economists” for getting this wrong. But when the media cherry-pick the economists and experts to quote, the media are equally guilty. We all know how this game is...

The Spin and the Win: Opposition to Trump may have jumped the gun on the doom and gloom forecasts. Trump's string of deals and demands have moved markets to recovery. Major indices have since exceeded both their April 1 closes and predictions. ================================================================ With April’s inflation report coming in below forecasts, the Trump economy appears to be defying analysts' and politicians' predictions of collapse in the wake of his “Liberation Day” tariffs and subsequent trade negotiations. As Trump adds more notches to his belt in deals with key trade partners, the stock market has rebounded to pre-tariff levels, even while...

Oh, my GAWD -this is getting so good.I mean, to the point where there's no 'Republic of Alberta...YET,' good.The morning after the country went to the polls, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith laid down the law to newly elected Canadian Prime Minister and WEF/Davos climate cult toadie Mark Carney that she - meaning Alberta - wasn't going to stand for any NetZero nonsense out of Ottawa. They'd quite had their fill, thank you.Danielle is one of the few people left in Canadian politics that has a brain, and a big set of balls.— profit xp (@profit_xp) May 1, 2025At the same...

Prices climbed at an unexpectedly slow pace last month, offering a boost to President Donald Trump, whose aggressive trade policies have sparked fears of a resurgence in inflation. The Labor Department on Tuesday reported that prices rose at an annual rate of 2.3 percent, the smallest increase since early 2021. While price growth in so-called core sectors of the economy — which exclude volatile food and energy costs — remained elevated at 2.8 percent, April’s Consumer Price Index contained only scant evidence that Trump’s tariffs have meaningfully driven up the cost of living. There was broad anticipation that Trump’s levies...

The Boeing 747 is being given to the United States Air Force/Department of Defense, NOT TO ME! It is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years. It will be used by our Government as a temporary Air Force One, until such time as our new Boeings, which are very late on delivery, arrive. Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done. This big savings...

Vermont Governor Phil Scott paused the state’s electric vehicle sales requirements for passenger cars and medium and heavy-duty trucks on Tuesday, amid broader concerns about the feasibility of zero-emission vehicle rules pioneered by California. Vermont is one of 11 states including New York, Maryland and Massachusetts that have adopted California’s zero-emission vehicle rules, which seek to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035. California’s rules require 35% of light-duty vehicles in the 2026 model year to be zero-emission models. Scott, a Republican, cited warnings from automakers that they could limit supply of gas-powered vehicles to dealers in the state...

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered cities across the Golden state to start cleaning up its homeless encampments, stating that the "time for inaction is over" and that the state has a lot of federal funding to help with the efforts. California has become known for having the highest homeless rate in the country with 187,000 homeless people as of 2024, who largely occupy cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Los Angeles has the second highest homeless population in the country, behind New York City. Newsom laid out a plan to eliminate the homeless population from his...

Gone are rules banning a wide swath of gas stoves. Gone are the strict water standards governing dishwashers and shower heads. And gone is the government-wide effort to force electrification of the economy through appliance regulations. It is all part of a historic action the Trump administration announced Monday, reversing dozens of energy regulations, saving consumers more than $11 billion, and cutting more than 125,000 words from the United States Code of Regulations. As part of the Department of Energy's sweeping action unveiled Monday, it will rescind dozens of energy efficiency regulations targeting common household appliances that the Biden administration...

The latest broadside from the federal government comes as Harvard faces multiple investigations from across the Trump administration.The Trump administration on Tuesday canceled an additional $450 million in grants for Harvard University, a fresh broadside in the clash between the federal government and the oldest university in the country.There were no new accusations leveled at Harvard in a statement announcing the latest cuts, issued by the administration’s task force on antisemitism. Instead, government officials accused the school of not resolving the “pervasive race discrimination and antisemitic harassment” they described as “plaguing” the campus in Cambridge, Mass.“There is a dark problem...

SummaryFinance minister, US trade minister stay in place Carney plans tax cuts, internal trade barrier removal by July 1 Teamsters union concerned over labor minister position change Carney met Trump in Washington last week but did not secure any removal of tariffs the president has imposed on Canadian exports."Our government will deliver its mandate for change with urgency and determination," Carney told reporters."Our workers and businesses continue to face the unfair tariffs imposed by the United States. My government will fight for Canadians."Carney says Canada must spend billions to start shifting the economy's focus away from the United States as...

Microsoft on Tuesday began laying off nearly 3 percent of its total workforce — or about 6,000 employees. “We continue to implement organizational changes necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace.” a Microsoft spokesperson told The Hill in an emailed statement.The Washington state-based tech company has a total of 228,000 workers globally, according to the corporation’s latest figures, with some 126,000 in the United States. Tuesday’s cuts will impact thousands. The layoff notices have already gone out to some employees. Microsoft also had layoffs earlier this year, initiating performance-based job cuts across multiple departments. The...