FRESNO, Calif. — A school district operating a self-insured health plan is not entitled to immunity as a public entity from claims that it undercompensated for emergency air transport, a company tells a California appeals court.
SANTA ANA, Calif. — A dozen substance abuse providers’ reimbursement claims lack any evidence that relevant Employee Retirement Income Security Act plans require payment at the levels they suggest, and the California unfair competition law (UCL) claim lacks any tie to a statutory basis on which the claims could be brought, leaving only oral contract claims remaining, a federal judge in California said in granting a motion to dismiss.
SAN FRANCISCO — Amici curiae filed five briefs in support of rehearing after a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a class cannot seek reprocessing of its health insurance claims, with the secretary of Labor saying the ruling conflicts with precedent from every circuit, and a bevy of providers warning about the potential fallout and wondering about the point of even having insurance if insurers can simply reject care decisions by medical professionals.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Evidence that a hospital at times provided an interpreter for a deaf woman and her allegations that the law requires one at every critical encounter raise more questions about her case than it answers, and under recent precedent, she can seek only nominal damages, a federal judge in New York said in denying her summary judgment and partially granting the provider’s motion.
PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals should ignore insurers’ “novella about the history of standing” and instead follow the clear precedent giving an assignee the power to pursue them under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a debt collector tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a reply brief.
FORT WORTH, Texas — An insurer told the Texas Supreme Court on March 20 that it could reject a petition for review challenging an appellate court’s reinstatement of an out-of-network dispute arbitrator’s award, saying the case presents only a question of “routine judicial deference.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Because a rule grants states and insurers flexibility in determining whether manufacturers’ drug assistance programs fall under the cost-sharing requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and doesn’t determine substantive rights, a legal challenge to it fails, the government tells a federal judge in a cross-motion for summary judgment and opposition.
SEATTLE — Two individuals have not shown that a blanket exclusion on hearing loss treatments targets those with a hearing disability or that the exclusion falls mostly on disabled individuals, a federal judge in Washington said in granting a motion to dismiss.
TACOMA, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington pondering a motion to decertify a class alleging transgender discrimination under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) issued an order to show cause asking for briefing on whether he should stay the case pending the outcome of a motion for rehearing in the wake of Wit v. United Behavioral Health.
SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate panel on March 15 held that an arbitration agreement between a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) and 22 independent pharmacies was “unconscionable” and affirmed a trial court’s ruling allowing the pharmacies to sue the PBM for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes for conduct allegedly including price-fixing and diverting their business to its own mail-order pharmacy.
SALT LAKE CITY — A health insurance plan’s blanket exclusion on wilderness therapy does not violate the Parity Act, an outcome that is not avoided by a claimant’s arguments about licensing or how an independent reviewer reached a conclusion affirming the benefits decision, a federal judge in Utah said.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals deviated from a “unanimous chorus of authority” when it determined that claims reprocessing is a means to an end rather than a remedy itself in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act case, a ruling that will produce “nightmarish” results for courts, a class argues in a petition for rehearing.
NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel sympathized with a woman’s challenge to the denial of coverage for proton beam therapy in the face of a “maddening” and “byzantine” health care system but said in affirming dismissal of her claims that its hands were tied by the statutory and regulatory realities.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pending resolution of a motion for partial summary judgment, a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has stayed two motions related to class certification of a takings claim in a case concerning the Transitional Reinsurance Program (TRP) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge entered judgment dismissing a lawsuit for failure to file an amended complaint by a coronavirus testing site operator that had accused an insurer of failure to reimburse providers for COVID-19 tests allegedly in violation of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other statutes.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The way the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) calculates uncompensated care provided by hospitals after passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is not subject to challenge and falls outside the type of procedural challenge that can be brought, the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said.
SAN FRANCISCO — An amended class settlement proposal addresses the concerns that resulted in its predecessor being denied preliminary approval, both parties in a class suit over a health plan’s denial of coverage for a specialized form of liposuction to treat lipedema told a California federal court.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut dismissed claims alleging underpayment for testing and treatment for COVID-19 with leave to amend, finding that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and two other statutes governing payments for COVID-19 procedures lack a private right of action and that Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims are not specific enough.
NEWARK, N.J. — In a lawsuit brought by a medical testing laboratory seeking reimbursement for COVID-19 testing from a group of health insurers, a New Jersey federal court granted the insurers’ motion to dismiss with leave to amend five of the counts, ruling that there was either no private right of action for reimbursement or the claims were preempted by the Employment Retirement Income Security Act, and denied a motion to dismiss one of the defendants from the complaint.
PHILADELPHIA — A class of head and neck cancer sufferers has asked a federal judge in Pennsylvania for preliminary approval of a settlement resolving claims that denial of insurance coverage for proton beam therapy (PBT) violated Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciary duties.