LAWSUITS NEWS & LEGAL INFORMATION
Insurance Legal News Articles & Interviews
Insurance Companies in Denial regarding Long COVID
September 15, 2022. By Jane Mundy.
Santa Clara, CA Despite government entities recognizing Long Covid as a disability, attorneys are litigating against health insurance companies that deny disability benefits to COVID long haulers.
Read [ Insurance Companies in Denial regarding Long COVID ]
Emergency Departments Still Overcharging Patients, Lawsuit Filed
August 18, 2022. By Jane Mundy.
Nashville, TN There was a flurry of reports and studies about five years ago that found routine price gouging in emergency rooms nationwide, and it was worse for the most vulnerable populations – poor and minority patients. It appears that, no matter how advanced medical technology gets, many emergency room patients are left in the dark, and left with an unexpectedly huge ER overcharges bill.
Read [ Emergency Departments Still Overcharging Patients, Lawsuit Filed ]
Former Head of Third-Party Billing Company on trial for Health Care Fraud
July 21, 2022. By Anne Wallace.
Islip, NY A number of elements go into the calculation of emergency room fees. Apart from the cost of providing care, hospitals must factor in reasonable expectations that some bills will go unpaid and that insurance companies will try to negotiate certain charges down – sometimes because of suspicions of healthcare fraud. The net effect, however, is that patients pay more.
Read [ Former Head of Third-Party Billing Company on trial for Health Care Fraud ]
Increased Emergency Room Charges Loom for Patients at Critical Access Hospitals
July 5, 2022. By Anne Wallace.
Clear Lake, CA On April 8, the DC Circuit Court, which has jurisdiction over Medicare cases, held that Medicare need not reimburse St. Helena Clear Lake Hospital for the cost of maintaining nonemergency room specialists on call. Without Medicare reimbursement, the cost of maintaining these doctors on call will ultimately be passed along to patients through higher emergency room charges.
Read [ Increased Emergency Room Charges Loom for Patients at Critical Access Hospitals ]
Covid Long-Haulers and Denied Disability
June 24, 2022. By Jane Mundy.
Santa Clara, CA If you are a COVID 19 long-hauler and your disability claim has been denied, don’t give up – don’t accept excuses from your insurer. The medical and legal community, state and federal governments (including the CDC) and a recent global survey recognize Long COVID as a disability and insurers will increasingly find it difficult to deny LTD benefits.
Read [ Covid Long-Haulers and Denied Disability ]
Family of Las Vegas man denied cancer treatment awarded $200M verdict in insurance bad faith lawsuit
May 11, 2022. By LAS Staff Writer.
Las Vegas, NV (April 26, 2022) A jury awarded $40 million in compensatory damages and $160 million in punitive damages to the family of a Las Vegas man who died after being wrongfully denied a specific type of cancer treatment. Sierra Health and Life, a UnitedHealthCare Company, denied Bill Eskew’s claim for proton beam therapy (PBT). Sandy Eskew, the widow and on behalf of Bill Eskew’ estate, brought a lawsuit against Sierra Health and Life. After a 13-day trial, the jury found Sierra Health and Life had breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing also known as “insurance bad faith.”
Read [ Family of Las Vegas man denied cancer treatment awarded $200M verdict in insurance bad faith lawsuit ]
Long-Term Disability Attorney Discusses Long-COVID Disability Claims
April 27, 2022. By Jane Mundy.
Northridge, CA It’s no surprise that some “long COVID-19” claims are denied by insurance companies: there was even a debate about whether it was real. But long-term disability attorney Brent Dorian Brehm, with Kantor & Kantor LLP has already won “post-COVID-19 syndrome” appeals for his clients. Brehm discusses how best to file a long-COVID LTD claim.
Read [ Long-Term Disability Attorney Discusses Long-COVID Disability Claims ]
More Hospital Overcharges Lawsuits against TeamHealth “Cartel”
April 6, 2022. By Jane Mundy.
Baton Rouge, LA No sooner has TeamHealth settled a $15 million class action lawsuit brought by physicians than it’s slammed with another class action claiming inappropriate ER billing and systematic overcharges from its central billing office which is controlled in a “cartel-like manner”.
Read [ More Hospital Overcharges Lawsuits against TeamHealth “Cartel” ]
UnitedHealthcare Cites Upcoding Fraud in Lawsuit against Emergency Room Staffing Company
March 9, 2022. By Anne Wallace.
Knoxville, TN On October 27, 2021, UnitedHealthcare filed a lawsuit against TeamHealth Holdings in the Eastern District of Tennessee. UnitedHealthcare Services v. TeamHealth Holdings, the ER fees lawsuit, charges that TeamHealth routinely overcharged emergency room patients for minor medical needs. UHC, as the administrator for many of those claims, alleges that it overpaid by as much as $100 million. The company claims that TeamHealth’s tactics crossed the line from aggressive profit maximization to outright fraud.
Read [ UnitedHealthcare Cites Upcoding Fraud in Lawsuit against Emergency Room Staffing Company ]
The No Surprises Act Not Foolproof
February 23, 2022. By Jane Mundy.
Santa Clara, CA The No Surprises Act, that went into effect January 1, 2022 intends to provide protection against surprise medical bills such out-of-network bills for in-network hospitals and services such as an air ambulance ride (not ground ambulance) to an in-network hospital. But don’t be surprised if you get a surprise bill…
Read [ The No Surprises Act Not Foolproof ]
- TeamHealth vs. United HealthCare Services By Jane Mundy (Dec-21-21)
- ER Charged $1,200 for Nosebleed By Jane Mundy (Nov-30-21)
- Physician Billed Exorbitant ER Overcharges By Jane Mundy (Nov-28-21)
- Patient is Charged ER Fees Without Being Seen By Jane Mundy (Nov-12-21)
- Patients “Deceived” and “Scammed” by ER Fees By Jane Mundy (Aug-18-21)
- Emergency Room Overcharges Patient now Debt Collector Victim By Jane Mundy (Jul-16-21)
- New York Insurance Bill Addresses Bad Faith Insurance Practices By Anne Wallace (May-26-21)
- Emergency Room Opportunity to Overcharge By Jane Mundy (May-21-21)
- Emergency Room Overcharges Complaints Outrageous but True By Jane Mundy (Apr-14-21)
- Emergency Room Overcharges Attorney Helps—if you are Committed By Jane Mundy (Apr-1-21)
- PG&E Executives Sued Personally for California Wildfire Damage By Anne Wallace (Mar-22-21)
- California Wildfire Bad Faith Insurance Denial Lawsuits Get New Life By Anne Wallace (Mar-1-21)
- Two Former Cardiologists Awarded $10.6 million for Reporting Patient Care Problems and Overcharging By Jane Mundy (Feb-28-21)
- Denied Insurance Coverage for Proton Beam Therapy By Jane Mundy (Feb-24-21)
- COVID Long-Haulers Prepare for Wrongly Denied Disability Claims By Anne Wallace (Feb-17-21)
- Insured Californians Getting Gouged by Out-of-Network Providers By Jane Mundy (Jun-16-20)
- Getting Caught Can Reduce Emergency Room Overcharges By Jane Mundy (May-14-20)
- Patients Battle Surprise Emergency Room Charges By Anne Wallace (Feb-20-19)
- Discrepancies in Emergency Room Overcharges Cause Frustration and Financial Woes By Jane Mundy (Feb-11-19)
- LTD Claimants Win Big as Ninth Circuit Trims “Abuse of Discretion” Standard By Anne Wallace (Jan-11-19)
- ER Charges: Underserved and Over-Charged thanks to Upcoding By Jane Mundy (Jan-10-19)
- Unum Disability Insurance Claimant Wins Reinstatement of LTD Benefits By Anne Wallace (Jan-8-19)
- Jury Awards $25.6 Million in Bad Faith Insurance Lawsuit By Anne Wallace (Dec-17-18)
- Unum: the Gift of Giving and Taking Away By Jane Mundy (Dec-6-18)
- Fibromyalgia Sufferer Brings LTD Lawsuit against Life Insurance Co. of North America By Anne Wallace (Nov-16-18)
- Unum’s Denial of Opioid Overdose Deaths By Jane Mundy (Nov-15-18)
- United Healthcare Faces Class Action Lawsuit For 'Arbitrary' Therapy Payment Policy By Jane Mundy (Nov-12-18)
- Is a Health Plan Liable for the Negligence of an Unqualified Claims Reviewer? By Anne Wallace (Oct-23-18)
- UNUM LTD Claimants Must Beware of Exhaustion of Remedies Roadblock By Anne Wallace (Oct-15-18)
- Mother with Post-Partum Depression Denied Disability Benefits by Hartford By Jane Mundy (Oct-10-18)
- Prosthetic Denial Lawsuits Filed against UnitedHealth Group and Anthem under ERISA By Jane Mundy (Sep-24-18)
- Amputees Fighting for Insurance Coverage Get Tips from Blue Cross Antitrust Lawsuit By Anne Wallace (Sep-20-18)
- Wheeler v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Seeks LTD Benefits for Injured Seaman By Anne Wallace (Sep-14-18)
- Dentist Claims Injury, Unum Claims Sickness to Deny By Jane Mundy (Sep-13-18)
- Amputees’ Fight for Insurance Coverage Focuses on ‘Medical Necessity’ of Microprocessor Prosthetics By Anne Wallace (Sep-4-18)
- Aetna Denies Disability – Is there a Doctor in the House? By Jane Mundy (Sep-3-18)
- Lawsuits Brewing over Insurance Denials for “Smart” Prostheses By Anne Wallace (Aug-21-18)
- Disability Claims Consultant Explains Unum’s Latest Practice to Dispute or Deny Long Term Disability Benefits By Jane Mundy (Aug-14-18)
- Hartford Insurance Denies Disability Benefits and Pays Millions to bail out a town By Jane Mundy (Aug-13-18)
- Anthem Denials of Emergency Room CT Scans and MRIs; Patients Sent to Clinics By Anne Wallace (Aug-6-18)