UnitedHealth Group should create new guidelines for covering behavioral health treatment and reevaluate denied claims based on those guidelines, plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the insurer said in a rebuttal, according to MPR News.
The plaintiffs are also asking that UnitedHealth have a monitor to oversee the reevaluations.
The plaintiffs' rebuttal comes after a judge ruled that UnitedHealth instituted guidelines that denied care to patients needing mental health treatment to cut costs. U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero made his decision March 5 in Northern California. He ruled that the insurer's unit that administers treatment for addiction and mental illness, United Behavioral Health, breached its federal fiduciary duty to plan members.
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