Judge approves settlement in Health Net case

Hartford Courant, July 25, 2008

A federal judge in New Jersey has approved a $255 million settlement to resolve a case that alleged Health Net Inc. has used an inadequate and unfair system of reimbursing claims of members who got care outside the insurer's network. In the settlement of three class-action lawsuits, Health Net will pay $215 million to patients who received low reimbursement for out-of-network claims. Plaintiffs in the class-action case received out-of-network care and then wound up paying more than they should have because Health Net used an "invalid" database provided by Ingenix to determine the reimbursement, said plaintiffs' attorney Barry Epstein.