State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he is continuing his own investigation into UnitedHealth Group, its Ingenix subsidiary and several other health insurers despite UnitedHealth’s $50 million settlement with New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo earlier this week.
The settlement resolved certain claims relating to insurance reimbursements for out-of-network health care. But Blumenthal said he’s still investigating the alleged scheme, which centered around Ingenix, which employs about 400 in Rocky Hill.
“My investigation into UnitedHealth Group, its Ingenix subsidiary and several other insurers is continuing to ensure that any company that may have misused or manipulated reimbursement rates is held accountable, including possible restitution for consumers,” Blumenthal said in a statement released late Tuesday.
“In a check-and-balance vacuum, Ingenix declared the market rate for medical procedures, but failed to ensure that data was accurate and updated,” Blumenthal added. “These practices enabled insurers to base reimbursement rates on outdated data that failed to reflect the rising costs of medical care. As a result of these practices, patients were forced to bear the cost of inflation and insurers abandoned their promises to pay a certain percentage of out-of-network medical costs.”
