UnitedHealth Group is requesting healthcare providers to repay the loans they received from the company after a cyberattack at its tech unit Change Healthcare last year, as reported by two providers on Friday. The U.S.'s largest health insurance company had lent $9 billion to struggling providers affected by a ransomware attack in February last year, resulting in shutdowns of payment and processing systems that took months to resume. Providers have been receiving emails from UnitedHealth's Optum unit, demanding full repayment and threatening reimbursement withholding. Change Healthcare stated that they are collaborating with providers on repayment options, aiming to recover the interest-free funding they provided post-services restoration. Providers expressed concerns about repayment terms that they deemed exploitative, with threats to garnish payments for non-repayment. One provider cited having $68,000 withheld from Medicaid reimbursements, having taken out loans totaling $35,000 and $500,000. Another provider mentioned being asked for full payment repayment within five business days for a $756,000 loan taken to sustain their primary care practice post-attack difficulties. UnitedHealth had announced that $3.2 billion of loans provided to providers had been repaid as of October 15, following the breach at Change Healthcare, the largest healthcare data breach in the U.S. impacting nearly 200 million individuals and causing widespread disruptions in claims processing.