Pomerantz Reaches Major Healthcare Settlement With Aetna

POMERANTZ MONITOR, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 

Readers of the Monitor may recall our reports on our $250 million settlement with Health Net, followed by our $350 million settlement with United Healthcare. Both actions involved underpayments by health insurers of claims for out-of-network medical services based on miscalculations of “usual, customary and reasonable,” or “UCR,” rates. The $350 million settlement with United Healthcare represented the largest cash settlement of an ERISA healthcare class action ever. 

We continued to pursue UCR claims against other healthcare insurers, and are now pleased to report that we have reached a settlement with Aetna, Inc. This settlement, in In re Aetna UCR Litigation, pending in the District of New Jersey, will -- once it is approved by the Court -- result in the reimbursement, through three settlement funds Aetna will create, of up to $120 million to providers and plan members who were also subjected to out-of-network underpayments based on miscalculated UCR rates. 

This settlement arises out of an action that alleged that Aetna used databases licensed from Ingenix, a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Healthcare, to set UCR rates for out-of-network services. We alleged the Ingenix databases were inherently flawed, statistically unreliable, and unable to establish proper UCR rates. Aetna, United Healthcare, and a number of other healthcare insurers had agreed to stop using the Ingenix databases pursuant to settlements with the New York Attorney General in 2009 simultaneous with Pomerantz’s settlement with United Healthcare. The settlement involves Aetna’s use of other non-Ingenix-based reimbursement mechanisms as well. 

The Aetna settlement represents another successful milestone for Pomerantz’s Insurance Practice Group. We are proud of this latest success in forcing managed care companies to follow the law. This settlement provides an opportunity for providers to obtain reimbursement for monies taken by Aetna in the guise of usual, customary and reasonable payments. It brings to a successful close years of litigation on behalf of providers, for whom we have long fought against the largest health insurers in the country, including Aetna. 

Pomerantz’s Insurance Practice Group represents hospitals, provider practice groups and providers in litigation involving such issues as recoupments and offsets, internal medical necessity policies that are inconsistent with generally accepted standards, and misrepresentations of insurance coverage.