UnitedHealth Group ordered to pay $165 million over deceptive sales practices [View all]

[iemanja]

UnitedHealth Group will appeal an order to pay $165 million in penalties and restitution after a judge found a business acquired by the Eden Prairie-based insurer more than five years ago used deceptive practices to sell benefits that supplement traditional health insurance in Massachusetts.

The judge’s order, announced this month by the attorney general in Massachusetts, was issued in late December.

The case dealt with allegations of cheating consumers and violating consumer protection laws primarily during the years leading up to 2019, when UnitedHealth Group purchased a Texas-based company called HealthMarkets Inc. At the time, divisions of the acquired company were being investigated by regulators in Massachusetts.

“For years, the defendants preyed on financially vulnerable individuals, deceiving them into buying products they didn’t need or couldn’t afford,” Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement. “This order holds the companies accountable and will provide meaningful restitution to consumers.”

https://www.startribune.com/unitedhealth-group-ordered-to-pay-165-million-over-deceptive-sales-practices/601205025