UnitedHealth accused of gouging customers on prescription drugs

[TexasTowelie]

Some UnitedHealth Group customers claim the health insurer defrauded them by setting up a system that secretly overcharged for prescription drugs.

UnitedHealth customers made co-payments far in excess of the costs of actual drugs, sometimes paying $50 for a drug that cost the insurer less than $15, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Minnesota.

The accusations follow recent scandals over inflated drug prices involving Mylan NV's EpiPen allergy treatment and former Turing Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Officer Martin Shkreli's more than 5,000 percent price hike for the drug Daraprim in 2015. Turing's medicine treats a rare parasitic disease.

UnitedHealth's overcharges were "improper and illegal" since the insurer was already paid to provide prescription drugs through health-insurance premiums, according to the complaint. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status on behalf of tens of thousands of customers, also accuses the insurer of clawing back the excess payments from pharmacies to improve its bottom line.

Read more: http://www.courant.com/business/ct-unitedhealth-prescription-drugs-lawsuit-20161006-story.html

[SharonAnn]

1. Oh, my goodness. An insurance company not doing right by its customers. Who would've thought?