California regulators are seeking fines of up to $9.9 billion from a unit of health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc., with operations in Hartford, citing mismanaged medical claims, failure to pay doctors and other lapses, Reuters reports.
The California Department of Insurance alleges that PacifiCare violated state law nearly a million times from 2006 to 2008 after it was purchased by UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. health insurer by market value.
Each violation is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000, according to department spokesman Ioannis Kazani.
UnitedHealth said in an emailed statement that the “allegations concerning claims processing by PacifiCare are simply not true.”
The insurer said more than 90 percent of the alleged violations were purely administrative, with the vast majority related to a failure to include certain language in standard claims correspondence during a four-month period in 2007.
“We will continue to defend ourselves in the legal proceedings” with the California Department of Insurance, the company said.
