United Healthcare Has Been Overcharging You!

UnitedHealth Group Settles New York Reimbursement Probe-Reuters
Well if you've been following my comments, then you are not surprised. As anyone ever involved in medical billing or adjudication will tell you insurance companies seemingly from thin air, decide how much your care is worth and how much you will pay. Despite the fact that you have "insurance" your share of the cost can put you in the poor house. You were thinking that you were covered then wham you pay more for your care than they did! Amounting to no more than a discount and not real "insurance!" I'll tell you later about the recent $8.00 check the insurance paid, while the patient paid $35.00 for the service!

Tuesday, 13 Jan 2009 01:45pm EST

Reuters reported that UnitedHealth Group has agreed on to a settlement with the New York State attorney general following a probe into the independence of its database used to set reimbursement rates for patients' medical bills. The agreement followed a year-long investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who said that consumers around the country have been forced to pay more than they should have for out-of-network medical services through skewed patient reimbursement rates. The settlement calls for UnitedHealth to shut down its Ingenix medical billing information service and pay $50 million to finance a new independent database to determine market rates for health-care procedures. UnitedHealth will not need to take a financial charge related to the settlement.