The Barack Obama Administration has placed online healthcare records in the spotlight lately, in an effort that may make out-of-network reimbursement payments from insurance companies to the individuals covered under their plans happen in a timely manner but it took three class action lawsuits against UnitedHealth Group to prod them to pay up.  UnitedHealth, the largest by market value in the United States, has agreed to settle these suits for $350 million and reimburse patients for out-of-pocket medical expenses incurred when they sought medical treatment at facilities out of the insurer’s network of providers.  For some insured patients, reimbursement is coming 15 years late.

Also included in the New York-based series of lawsuits is Ingenix, the medical billing information company that UnitedHealth uses.  Both companies agreed to the settlement and all parties are now awaiting approval by the Southern District Court of New York to consolidate the three suits before reimbursing plaintiffs, some of whom have been waiting for reimbursement since 1994.  New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is presiding over these actions.

The three lawsuits accuse UnitedHealth of knowingly failing to reimburse its own insured patients and the out-of-network healthcare facilities that treated them even when these out-of-network medical expenses were approved according to UnitedHealth’s policies.  The lawsuits were filed on behalf of the unreimbursed patients and healthcare facilities as well as the American Medical Association and various state medical groups.  Attorneys for the plaintiffs say UnitedHealth manipulated records to avoid reimbursing hundreds of millions of dollars for approved out-of-pocket medical expenses.