Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday announced that the state is opening an investigation into health insurer Superior Health over allegations that it spied on lawmakers, patients and journalists.
Paxton’s announcement on Thursday accuses Superior of “illegally spying on or blackmailing … lawmakers, journalists and private citizens with pending insurance claims against Superior” by “using private investigators to perform surveillance and gather potentially confidential information.”
At a meeting of the House Committee on Delivery of Government Efficiency, modeled after President Donald Trump’s new federal government agency led by Elon Musk, chairman Gio Capriglione, R-Southlake, interrogated Superior CEO Mark Sanders for allegedly hiring private investigators to gather information on lawmakers involved in budgeting and patients with outstanding claims.
Sanders said that the company no longer hires private investigators, but conceded that they did investigate “people who are involved in possibly approving budgets,” he said, as quoted by the Quorum Report.
“The allegations concerning Superior’s actions, such as actions that were characterized as potentially blackmailing lawmakers to secure state contracts and surveilling private citizens to avoid paying legitimate claims, are deeply troubling,” Paxton said in a prepared statement. “I will get to the bottom of this, uncover any illegal activity, and hold bad actors responsible. Justice will be served.”
