UnitedHealth Settles in Court after Accusations of Overcharging
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After being accused of overcharging millions for health care insurance, one of America’s biggest insurers has agreed to a $50 million settlement pay-out.
Hundreds of people made complaints about charges made by Oxford Insurance, and its parent company UnitedHealth Group. The parent company claims that its reimbursement rates are based on “independent research from across the health care industry,” but an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office revealed that it’s actually Ingenix, a research firm owned and operated by UnitedHealth Group, that supplies the data.
This isn’t just a case of conflict of interest, however – it gets much worse.
According to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Ingenix has been manipulating the data, allowing UnitedHealth Group’s Oxford Insurance to pay less for reimbursement of its customers.
