Video: Every Case Tells a Story| Webinar: ACR/CHEST ILD Guidelines in Practice

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

UnitedHealth Sued by U.S. Over Medicare Charges

Reuters Staff  |  

(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has joined a whistleblower lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group Inc. that claims the country’s largest health insurer and its units and affiliates overcharged Medicare hundreds of millions of dollars, a law firm representing the whistleblower said on Thursday.

“We reject these more than five-year-old claims and will contest them vigorously,” UnitedHealth spokesman Matthew Burns said in a statement.

ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

The lawsuit, filed in 2011 and unsealed on Thursday, alleges UnitedHealth Group overcharged Medicare by claiming the federal health insurance program’s members nationwide were sicker than they were, according to the law firm Constantine Cannon LLP.

The DOJ has also joined in allegations against WellMed Medical Management Inc., a Texas-based healthcare company UnitedHealth bought in 2011.

ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

The lawsuit by whistleblower Benjamin Poehling, a former UnitedHealth executive, has been kept under seal in federal court in Los Angeles while the Justice Department investigated the claims for the past five years. Constantine Cannon posted the lawsuit online when it was unsealed on Thursday.

No total damages were specified in the lawsuit.

Related Articles

    U.S. Accuses UnitedHealth of Medicare Advantage Fraud

    (Reuters)—The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has accused UnitedHealth Group Inc. of obtaining inflated payments from the government based on inaccurate information about the health status of patients enrolled in its largest Medicare Advantage Plan.1 The complaint, filed in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday, came after the DOJ earlier this year intervened in two…

    New York Orders UnitedHealth to Pay $100,000 to Settle Antitrust Probe

    WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The New York Attorney General has ordered UnitedHealth Group to pay a $100,000 fine after an investigation found the insurance provider engaged in anti-competitive practices involving elder and long-term care products, according to a person familiar with the matter. The settlement, which was signed late Wednesday, centers on efforts by UnitedHealth to force nursing…

    Aetna CEO Warned It Would Cut Obamacare If Humana Deal Was Blocked

    NEW YORK (Reuters)—Aetna Inc.’s CEO said in a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) during the review of its deal to buy rival Humana Inc that the insurer would exit much of the individual Obamacare insurance market if the agency challenged the merger. In the July 5 letter, Chief Executive Officer Mark Bertolini…

    UnitedHealth Boosts Earnings Forecast, Set to Pass Price Discounts to Patients

    July 18 (Reuters)—UnitedHealth Group Inc. will stick with its decision to pass on drug maker discounts to patients to help them beat rising medicine prices despite the U.S. government having withdrawn a similar proposed policy in its health programs, its top executive said on Thursday. “You can expect us not to change our stance on…