|
Both Health Net and Prudential Financial have agreed to settle their portions of the federal antiracketeering lawsuit filed against their company by TMA and several other state medical societies. Health Net, which does not currently operate in Texas, agreed to pay $40 million in damages to physicians and make an estimated $80 million worth of physician- and patient-friendly changes to its business practices. Prudential, which no longer writes health insurance, agreed to pay $22.2 million to physicians. TMA will provide more details as they become available.
Any physician who provided covered services to any patient covered by Health Net or any of the other defendant health plans (Aetna, Anthem, Coventry, CIGNA, Humana, PacifiCare, Prudential, United Healthcare, and WellPoint) from Aug. 4, 1990, through and including May 10, 2005, is a member of the settlement class and entitled to a share of the $40 million. Physicians who provided large volumes of covered service to patients through Health Net, and retired or inactive physicians or the estates of deceased physicians, may receive a larger share.
The deadline for filing a claim is Sept. 21, 2005. All of the details are in the settlement notice.
Physicians may choose to have their share contributed to the TMA Special Funds Foundation or any other charitable foundation that is dedicated to promoting high quality health care on their behalf. Any unclaimed money in the settlement fund will be contributed to the Physicians' Foundation for Health Systems Innovations, a foundation dedicated to promoting high quality health care with a particular emphasis on initiatives that help physicians improve and enhance the quality of care received by patients.
The other defendants are scheduled to go to trial Jan. 23, 2006, in a Miami federal court. They are Anthem Inc., Coventry Health Care Inc., Humana Inc., PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., United HealthCare, and WellPoint Health Networks Inc.
Last Published: 11/9/2005 Print this page
|