The suit, which was filed in Los Angeles federal court, alleges that WellPoint colluded with others to underpay physicians for out-of-network medical services, resulting in patients paying an excessive portion of the medical bill. The AMA previously filed similar suits against Aetna Health and CIGNA Corp.
The suits claim that the insurance companies conspired with Ingenix, a unit of UnitedHealth Group, on a price fixing scheme that relied on an obscure database to set artificially low reimbursement rates for out-of-network care. An investigation by the New York attorney general confirmed that the database is intentionally rigged to allow insurers to shortchange reimbursements.
Read the AMA release on the class action suit against WellPoint.
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