Cut Staff, Get Money
UnitedHealthcare's business model draws more scrutiny. Massachusetts' Attorney General says it overcharged the state by more than $100 million.
This Week In Blunders – May 24-30
“A lifetime of treatment is preferable to a cure.”– Elisabeth Rosenthal
UnitedHealthcare coded its members as sicker than they were so it could overcharge the state of Massachusetts’ Medicaid system by more than $100 million, according to a lawsuit filed by the state’s attorney general on Friday.
The nation’s largest health insurer pursued a “growth-at-all-costs strategy” through its Senior Care Options program, the lawsuit alleges.
“Cut staff,” “[g]et more numbers,” and “[g]et more money from the state,” is how the program ran, the complaint filed by Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell says.
Sound familiar?
Minnesota-based UnitedHealth called the lawsuit “meritless” and the AG “simply wrong.”
For now, this is just another chapter in what is becoming a long-running medical drama.
