Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird are co-leading a 22-state letter calling on Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (“SAVE”) Act.

This bill would strengthen our electoral process by upholding the rule of law and prohibit individuals who are ineligible to vote like illegal aliens from doing so. Even as Rokitaand Bird demand action on the national level, the American public should find it absurd that such a letter to Congress is needed in order tobolster the very foundation of our country’s system of government – free and fair elections. 

“This commonsense piece of legislation is needed to ensure what should be two simple concepts - that our elections are secure and our elections are protected from illegal voters,” Attorney General Rokita said. “With millions of illegal aliens entering the country on President Joe Biden’s watch, it’s imperative that we take these steps to ensure our elections are safe and secure.”

Under the SAVE Act, individuals must provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote. It also will help states identify and remove illegal aliens from their voter registration rolls. With broad support among all Americans and the U.S. House of Representatives passing the bill last week, Attorney General Rokita is demanding the U.S. Senate to take action. 

“As Indiana’s former secretary of state, I know that increasing public faith by securing the electoral process is a hallmark of ourdemocracy – a system that is unfortunately and ironically being blocked by members of a political party named for this exact system of representative government,” Attorney General Rokita said.

In the wake of a massive and under-reported cyberattack, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is warning Hoosiers about the steps they can take to prevent the potential theft of their personal health care information. 

For months, the nation’s largest electronic data clearinghouse, ChangeHealthcare/UnitedHealth, failed to inform the likely 110 million affected Americans about the potential theft of their health insurance records, banking information, Social Security numbers, and medical records that are typically kept confidential between doctors and patients. Rokita’s Data Privacy and ID Theft team is urging Indiana residents to be on the lookout for strange changes to their health plan statements and billing information, and to take advantage of Change Healthcare offering free credit monitoring and ID theft protection services. To enroll in credit monitoring through IDX, call 1-888-846-4705. 

“The protection of your private medical records and personal health care information is of utmost importance to our office, and you have the right to request a credit freeze and numerous other preventative ID theft services – free of charge – from this irresponsible health care handler,” Attorney General Rokita said.

Change Healthcare processes 15 billion health care transactions each year, and the company reported one-in-three Americans may be affected by this latest BlackCat ransomware attack. The attack itself enabled the shady hacker group to obtain millions and millions of private medical records stored by Change Healthcare. 

“Our office will continue to pressure companies like Change Healthcare to hold Hoosiers’ data privacy at the highest standards -- and know that we will hold all health care operators accountable for any and all breaches.” 

Timeline of Attacks & Change Healthcare’s Failure to Notify Patients

The company has stated that affected individuals may begin receiving notification letters in the mail in late July, but Change Healthcare first became aware of the so-called Blackcat ransomware cyberattacks all the way back on February 21, 2024.

The ransomware attackers themselves have publicly claimed that patient data was being stolen well before the February 21 date – but millions of patients have not been individually notified in any way that their information has likely been stolen by the hacker group.

Companies like UnitedHealth are legally required to report all data breaches involving protected health information (PHI) to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. But Rokita’s office reiterates that the depth and scope of the breaches are still unknown – so even if you don’t think you’re affected – it can’t hurt to take pro-active steps to protect yourself.

Consumers should be aware of potential warning signs that someone is using their medical information. The signs include: 

• A bill from their doctor for services they did not receive; 
• Errors in their Explanation of Benefits statement like services they never received or prescription medications they do not take; 
• A call from a debt collector about a medical debt they do not owe; 
• Medical debt collection notices on their credit report that they do not recognize; 
• A notice from their health insurance company indicating they have reached their benefit limit; or 
• They are denied insurance coverage because their medical records show a pre-existing condition they do not have. 

If consumers are concerned that their data may have been impacted but prefer not to use the free resources provided by Change Healthcare, they can also consider freezing their credit.

Individuals will have to freeze their credit with each bureau: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.

• Equifax | https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-freeze/
  • +1 (888) 766-0008

• Experian | https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html
  • +1 (888) 397-3742

• TransUnion | https://www.transunion.com/credit-freeze
  • +1 (800) 680-7289

Senator Braun’s bipartisan Health Care PRICE Transparency Act was center stage at the hearing.

WASHINGTON — Senator Braun led a hearing on reducing health care costs through price transparency in the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging on Thursday, entitled “Health Care Transparency: Lowering Costs and Empowering Patients.” 

During the hearing, the Senators focused on challenges in the current health care system due to a lack of price transparency and competition, as well as ways to improve the system for patients, people with disabilities, older adults, and families. 

The hearing examined examples of how patients and plan beneficiaries were harmed by poor transparency and how unions and employers have found ways to amass incredible savings by acting on data. 

Senator Braun also released a report today on health care price transparency. You can read it online here. 

Senator Braun’s Health Care PRICE Transparency Act continues to add bipartisan cosponsors. The bill would require machine-readable files of all negotiated rates and cash prices between plans and providers, not estimates, expand price transparency requirements to clinical diagnostic labs, imaging centers, and ambulatory surgical centers, require pricing data standards including all billing codes for services, require actual prices for 300 shoppable services with all services by 2025, require attestation by executives that all prices are accurate and complete, increase maximum annual penalties to $10,000,000 (includes specific minimum and maximum penalties according to number of hospital beds in the facility), prevent preemption of state price transparency laws, except for ERISA group health plans, codify the Transparency in Coverage rule, provide group health plans the right to access, audit, and review claims encounter data.

Remarks:

Health care costs are skyrocketing. In 2023, we spent $4.8 trillion on health care, a whopping 17 percent of our GDP.

These astronomical costs are hidden behind deceptive practices that make health care unaffordable for far too many Americans.

When people go to the hospital, they have no idea how much their care will cost.

The same procedure can be 20 times more expensive in one hospital than in another.

The lack of transparency and competition in our health care system directly hurts patients, employers, unions, and governments.

As someone who has spent their life growing a business, I have wrestled with the impact health care costs have on employers and employees.

I was able to keep costs low and health care premiums flat by contracting directly with price-transparent providers and focusing on preventative care.

Combatting health care costs through transparency is something that Republicans and Democrats agree on.

President Trump put in place regulations requiring hospitals and insurers to disclose prices, and President Biden has continued to support it.

Today I am releasing a new report that highlights the need for Congress to enact additional transparency across the health care supply chain.

Congress needs to ensure that every American seeking health care will know the price up front.

The House-passed Lower Costs, More Transparency Act is a huge step in the right direction but has yet to be considered in the Senate.

Senator Bernie Sanders and I introduced the Health Care PRICE Transparency Act 2.0, a landmark bill to reveal health care prices for Americans that mirrors House bill in many ways.

I want to thank Senators Warren and Fetterman, who are members of this Committee, for joining as cosponsors.

Our bill pulls back the curtain by requiring all negotiated rates and cash prices between plans and providers to be accessible.

It requires providers to publish actual prices, not estimates. 

Another major component of the bill states that group health plans have the right to review and audit their claims data.

This will allow self-insured employers and unions to make changes to their plan and save money for their beneficiaries.

Our bill puts the power back in the hands of Americans, introducing real competition into the health care industry and bringing down prices.

I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record two statements: one from Power to the Patient and another from Patient Rights Advocate with 75 signatures in support of this legislation.

I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get the Health Care Price Transparency Act 2.0 to the President’s desk. 

It is time to deliver for our seniors, our families, and Americans all across the country.

I would now like to play a video telling just one of the thousands of stories about the impact price transparency can have on patients.

Thank you to Patient Rights Advocate for submitting this story and for their leadership in the fight to bring power to patients.

Bait-and-switch sales tactics, falsely advertised prices and preying on Hoosiers with subprime credit — those are the alleged misdeeds of a string of four Indianapolis used-car stores that might rank among the area’s most notoriously misnamed business enterprises.

And now, after a settlement with Attorney General Todd Rokita, the business will be forced to pay back almost half a million dollars to deceived consumers. The Indiana Department of Financial Institutionspartnered with the Office of the Attorney General in resolving this matter.

The stores operate under the name “Honest Abe Auto Sales,” but according to a lawsuit and settlement filed by Attorney General Rokita,they have harmed Hoosier car-buyers by engaging in dishonest and deceitful conduct.

Honest Abe Auto Sales advertised specific prices on vehicles, but when consumers with subprime credit attempted to buy the vehicles, Honest Abe raised the prices by thousands of dollars. Honest Abe then failed todisclose the price increase as a cost of credit. Over 250 consumers were affected.

“We won’t tolerate businesses breaking the law and duping Hoosiers into paying higher prices than advertised,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Regardless of their credit scores, consumers should never encounter bait-and-switch tactics in which prices change the second customers arrive inperson.”

Under the terms of the settlement, Honest Abe Auto Sales will pay restitution to affected consumers in the total amount of $470,646. Honest Abe Auto Sales is also enjoined from engaging in similar deceptive conduct in future advertising and sales.

“Here we have a business that allegedly hid extra finance fees, staggering service charges, document costs and outright price markups,” Attorney GeneralRokita added. “The fact they call themselves ‘Honest Abe’ just makes the facts of this case especially rich.”

The defendant, Sycamore Companies LLC, operates stores at the following addresses: 4401 North Keystone Avenue; 5520 West Washington Street; 3201 West 16th Street; and 5422 Madison Avenue in Indianapolis.