Los Angeles Times report on September 8, 2010 that California regulators are seeking fines of up to $9.9 billion from health insurer PacificCare over allegations that it repeatedly mismanaged medical claims, lost thousands of patient documents, failed to pay doctors what they were owed and ignored calls to fix the problems.
In court filings and other documents, the California Department of Insurance says Pacific Care violated state law nearly 1 million items from 2006 to 2008 after it was purchased by UnitedHealth Group Inc., the nation’s largest health insurance company by revenue. Regulators said the companies broke promises to maintain smooth operations for 130,000 of PacifiCare customers, resulting in what insurance officials nationwide believe tis the largest fine ever sought against a U.S. health insurer.
” This is about intentional disregard for the interest of doctors, hospitals and patients in California, and the pursuit of cutting costs at any means possible,” said Adam Cole, the insurance department’s general counsel. ” It’s a story of intense corporate greed.”
The insurer maintain that the state’s case largely involves administrative errors that did little harm to anyone. They point out that three-quarters of the allegations related to PacifcCare’s alleged failure during a short period in 2007 to inform doctors and patients in correspondence of their right to appeal coverage decisions.
