Amerigroup Settles Medicaid Lawsuit Over Denial Of Coverage To Pregnant Women For $225M
Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIPAlso Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics; Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 24 Jul 2008 - 5:00 PDT
Amerigroup on Tuesday said it will enter a $225 million settlement agreement with Illinois and the federal government over allegations that it denied coverage to eligible pregnant women, the Baltimore Sun reports (Baltimore Sun, 7/23).
Cleveland Tyson, former vice president of government relations at Amerigroup's Illinois subsidiary, in 2002 filed a whistle-blower lawsuit that claimed the company cherry-picked the healthiest patients to reduce spending. The U.S. attorney in Chicago and the Illinois attorney general later joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs. Illinois paid Amerigroup a flat fee per beneficiary that took into account that some people require more costly treatment than others. In March 2007, a federal judge in Chicago ruled against Amerigroup and awarded $334 million in the lawsuit.
Amerigroup said that it also will pay $9 million in legal fees in the settlement, and the company has agreed to enter into a corporate integrity agreement as part of the settlement. Amerigroup will pay the settlement from an already established fund. The company will take a one-time charge of about $199 million net of estimated tax benefit in the quarter that ended June 30, according to an Amerigroup statement (Bloomberg/Chicago Tribune, 7/23).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
|
Please rate this article: (Hover over the stars then click to rate) |
Patient / Public: |
or |
Health Professional: |
Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
![]()
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
| Back to top | Back to front page | List of All Medical Articles |
| Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | © 2009 MediLexicon International Ltd |





