Judge tosses lawsuit alleging Medica owes lab over $10M in COVID-19 test payments

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from GS Labs accusing Minnesota-based health insurer Medica of withholding more than $10 million in payments for COVID-19 tests, Minnesota Public Radio reported Sept. 21. 

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The lawsuit filed in October alleged that Medica refused to provide full reimbursement for tests conducted by the Nebraska-based lab company. GS Labs argued that the federal CARES Act required the insurer to pay the full price of tests as listed on the company’s website, according to the report. 

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard Nelson ruled that the law does not give testing companies the right to seek payments from insurers through lawsuits, according to the report.

“While diagnostic testing providers may have incidentally benefited from the goal of providing COVID-19 testing access to patients, the CARES Act was not intended to especially benefit testing providers,” Ms. Nelson wrote in her order, according to the report. 

GS Labs is reviewing its legal options, a company spokesperson told the news outlet. 

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