UnitedHealth Group entered into a $350,000,000 settlement of three class actions on behalf of the American Medical Association, health plan members, healthcare providers and state medical societies. The Plaintiffs claimed in each lawsuit that UnitedHealth, through a company that it owned, cheated patient members and out of network providers on reimbursements for services rendered by those providers. The settlement covers all UnitedHealth claims for out of network providers since 1994.
This settlement leaves unresolved, at least for the moment, claims against other health care insurance companies. The entire industry used the database of UnitedHealth’s Ingenix business unit to calculate the reimbursements due. It will be interesting to see how the settlement figure was reached and how soon other insurance carriers will be called to task for their misconduct.
