According to reports by the Dallas Morning News, the Texas Medical Association announced that it had joined the lawsuits against Aetna and Cigna filed amid claims that the insurer’ reimbursement systems are flawed; that doctors are underpaid; and that patients have been overcharged for more than 10 years. These two lawsuits have been filed by the American Medical Association as well as other state medical associations and doctors.
The lawsuits were originally filed in New Jersey federal court on Monday. The plaintiffs claim that defendants used misleading information from Ingenix (a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group) when deciding what to pay physicians. When the State Attorney from New York, Andrew Cuomo, figured out that the Ingenix database was calculating reimbursement rates at between 10 and 28 percent lower than it should have, it was revealed that a lot of people were overpaying for their out-of-network care.
So far, investigations into UnitedHealth, Aetna, HealthNet and MVP Health Care have been settled with the companies giving millions to the patients and doctors that suffered because of the underpayments. This was also a way to prevent Ingenix from doing it again. In addition, the money went to help create a new independent database to replace Ingenix.
The spokesperson from Cigna, Chris Curran, said that the lawsuits are “without merit and will be vigorously defended.” In its statement, Cigna claimed that the company’s payments for out-of-network physicians are “robust and fair.”
The president of TMA, Josie Williams, disagrees and said, “It’s time for Aetna and Cigna to stop this unethical business practice that shocks our patients with unexpectedly high bills for health care they thought they’d already paid for. It’s time for them to stop cheating physicians and patients just to pad their own profits.”
If you feel that you have been overcharged by Cigna, or if you have been denied a Cigna disability insurance claim unfairly, you might have cause to file a Cigna lawsuit. Contact Greg Jones today for a free consultation. I am an experienced lawyer that will fight hard to get you every dime that you may be entitled to recover.