Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.
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The email from a Star Tribune reader had the word “Desperate” in the subject line. The author: Karin Olson, 76, of Richfield, who has Type 1 diabetes and depends on her Dexcom continuous glucose monitoring system to manage this serious condition.
Olson, a former registered nurse, recently found herself facing a potential care crisis through no fault of her own. The sensors on her Dexcom system are designed to last for up to 10 days before needing replacement, and monthly costs range from $440 to $470, according to GoodRx.com. Medicare typically covers the supplies she needs. But after a recent cyberattack on a medical claims-processing company acquired by Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group in 2022, Olson couldn’t get new sensors at her local Walgreens or anywhere else.
“Now I’m in panic mode. No pharmacy is willing to refill my sensor supplies because Medicare can’t reimburse them as a result of the recent hacking. I’m running out of supplies. This is a life-threatening situation for me and others with Type 1 diabetes,” Olson wrote on Thursday morning. As for just paying for the supplies herself, Olson told an editorial writer that she’s on a fixed income with limited resources.
Fortunately, by Thursday afternoon, ongoing efforts by Walgreens and UnitedHealth appeared to have resolved this snag. In a phone call, a Walgreens district manager told Olson that a workaround had been found, and her prescription was ready for pickup with the usual copay.
Even though it ended well, Olson’s plight merits a broad spotlight and deeper understanding by policymakers and the public, with Congress in particular needing to explore how the cyberattack happened and how to prevent another one. At a minimum, a high-profile hearing is in order.
Vulnerabilities to outages and nefarious hackers are inherent in this digital era for any industry, but they are especially alarming in health care. As Olson’s case illustrates, a ransomware attack on a company she’d never heard of could swiftly impact her and other patients. An attack like this can also jeopardize the financial well-being of health care providers, with widespread claims-processing delays putting medical providers in a cash-flow crunch.
