Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UnitedHealth To Shutter Experiment Of No-Cost-Sharing Plans For Primary And Behavioral Care
Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth Pulls Plug On Plan Testing No-Charge Primary Care
UnitedHealth Group is shutting down its health plan experiment featuring staff providers offering unlimited primary and behavioral care at no charge. Harken Health, a UnitedHealth subsidiary, reportedly is closing in Chicago and Atlanta after launching at the beginning of 2016. It will continue to cover and provide care for individual-market enrollees through the end of 2017, and will serve employer group members through the end of its contracts. (Meyer, 5/15)
Kaiser Health News: UnitedHealth Doctored Medicare Records, Overbilled U.S. By $1 Billion, Feds Claim
The Justice Department on Tuesday accused giant insurer UnitedHealth Group of overcharging the federal government by more than $1 billion through its Medicare Advantage plans. In a 79-page lawsuit filed in Los Angeles, the Justice Department alleged that the insurer made patients appear sicker than they were in order to collect higher Medicare payments than it deserved. The government said it had “conservatively estimated” that the company “knowingly and improperly avoided repaying Medicare” for more than a billion dollars over the course of the decade-long scheme. (Schulte, 5/17)
