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... doctors associations from Texas and other states in suing health insurers Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp. over a database they say was rigged to underpay physicians ... heap more criticism on Ingenix Inc. data that already has cost UnitedHealth Group Inc. $350 million to settle a separate lawsuit involving the AMA. Ingenix is a UnitedHealth ... hiding "serious, systemic flaws" in the data. Insurers use the data to determine "usual and customary rates" for care received outside their networks. But Aetna and ...

... (NYSE:AET) and CIGNA (NYSE:CI), claiming the companies shortchanged doctors by millions of dollars for out-of-network care. The groups filed lawsuits, proposed as class actions, in a New Jersey federal court this week seeking restitution for what they call a ... . In out-of-network care, doctors can bill patients for the balance if insurance reimbursement falls short. The lawsuits allege that Aetna and CIGNA violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the Sherman Antitrust Act, ...

... relations influences over government, opinion, and public policy. Potter was the spokesman when CIGNA denied a transplant to a 17-year-old teen who needed one to live. Because ... stalls. Welcome to health care in America where about 50 million people do not have health insurance. If you have ever been treated badly by Big ... rarely hear, while what dominates the airwaves are scare stories from pseudo-consumer groups, actually funded by the insurance industry, that is trying to tell us that we don't want ...

... to insurance. Gerstein pointed out a trilogy of cases, including the Supreme Court's decision in Broughton v. Cigna Healthplans of California (1999), that "made the assumption" that the CLRA applied, but did not discuss the question. Further, ... resolving that case. Mason concluded his argument by paraphrasing Berry to suggest that insurance was excluded as part of a legislative "compromise between consumers and business groups," and that the Supreme Court was not the proper forum to "undo that ...

... the tune of at least hundreds of millions of dollars," he says. Other major insurers also use Ingenix, including Aetna, CIGNA and WellPoint/Empire BlueCross BlueShield. "This is a huge scam that affected hundreds of millions ... by their health insurance companies," says Cuomo. "This was unethical, and it robbed vulnerable patients of insurance reimbursements they deserved." In a statement, UnitedHealth Group told TODAY: "We respectfully disagree with the New York Attorney General's findings that ...

... prices of certain doctor-administered drugs by misstating their Average Wholesale Prices (AWPs) in industry publications. Because insurance and Medicare reimbursement was based on AWPs, doctors could make a lot of money by prescribing the right ... a separate statewide class and remanding to the appropriate district court. Then, despite the similarity of language in the groups, defendants argued that state-by-state interpretive differences required rejection of the class. Reliance: many state laws ...

... know about it. Since that alert was issued, any physician who instructed a patient in one of the risk groups to take the medications may be liable for medical malpractice, if the patient suffered kidney ... news with which to end the year. Did you ever notice how your health insurer "loses" the claim sheets you send in, or finds nifty little ways to make ... leukemia, and has since died, partly because the family's health insurer, Cigna, reportedly rejected valid claims and delayed acting on those they ...

... options, and when possible, the healthy ones should be separated from those who need coverage from the group insurance plan. Other things, such as asking your doctor to change medication to ... COBRA subsidy will run out in 9 months (some times sooner, depending on the size of the group) and COBRA will expire as an option after 18 months. Most states have ... at DHL she paid $426 per month for health insurance, DHL paid the rest. Their coverage with Cigna covered roughly $2,000,000 for the cost of Jake' ...

... know from our on-going series on Stupid Carrier Tricks that we hold no truck for shenanigans by any insurer, and this would be at the top of that list. But: Something about the wording rang false, and having seen how the press ... a bit more to this story than what we read in the paper? I spoke this morning with a gentleman at Cigna who was actually in the lobby that morning, and who actually met with the group of people who had come to protest. What the L A Times story conveniently omits is that ...

... treating physician's orders and if the patient dies or suffers permanent damage from a treatable condition after the denial, the insurance company and its medical review staff are immune from legal redress. Therefore, in order to reduce administrative costs while ... other problem with an employer driven market is that HMO's offer different per member prices for different groups depending on the size and payout experience. This has resulted in price gouging the self employed individuals and driving ...