According to a recent Connecticut Law Tribune article, a state law firm filed a high-profile federal lawsuit in April accusing certain insurance companies of overcharging patients for mental health services causing many to avoid treatment.
Murtha Cullina’s Hartford office filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New Haven on behalf of the American Psychiatric Association. The lawsuit alleges Anthem and its subsidiaries, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and Wellpoint, require extra pre-approval and charge higher co-payments for mental health services in violation of the federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.
This is the fourth lawsuit filed in the country since Congress amended the Act in 2008 to, among other things, require insurance companies to use the same billing standards for mental health and medical services. In 2012, the U.S. District Court in Vermont was the first to rule in favor of mental health patients who claimed to be treated differently than those seeking non-mental health services. Similar lawsuits are pending in California and New York.
The article notes that although Anthem hasn’t formally responded to the lawsuit, it has publically announced plans to change its fee schedule, reconsider 28,000 cases, and pay back approximately $400,000 in co-payments it collected.
