UnitedHealth needs to shore up mental health coverage, plaintiffs argue

UnitedHealth Group should create new guidelines for covering behavioral health treatment and reevaluate denied claims based on those guidelines, plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the insurer said in a rebuttal, according to MPR News.

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The plaintiffs are also asking that UnitedHealth have a monitor to oversee the reevaluations.

The plaintiffs’ rebuttal comes after a judge ruled that UnitedHealth instituted guidelines that denied care to patients needing mental health treatment to cut costs. U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero made his decision March 5 in Northern California. He ruled that the insurer’s unit that administers treatment for addiction and mental illness, United Behavioral Health, breached its federal fiduciary duty to plan members. 

Read more here.

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