A lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare, United Behavioral Health and MultiPlan for allegedly underpaying claims for mental health treatment has been dropped, Bloomberg Law reported April 3.
Plaintiffs in the case were employees of Apple and Tesla who received benefits from these companies through their employer. The workers alleged that when they sought out-of-network services for substance abuse treatment the insurance companies underpaid their portion of the costs.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied the plaintiffs' motion to certify the case as a class action on March 31.
Prior to this ruling, in a separate case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit decreed that reprocessing claims, one of the plaintiffs' primary demands, was not an appropriate venue of relief in such suits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The Labor Department filed an amicus brief urging the appeals court to reconsider following this ruling.
Since Apple and Tesla are no longer using UnitedHealthcare for insurance, the judge said the employers should be responsible for the reimbursement, according to court documents obtained by the publication.