New York's attorney general says a seventh health insurance company will stop using a faulty database to calculate reimbursement rates for patients who see out-of-network doctors.
Andrew Cuomo says Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. will end its relationship with the Ingenix database and pay $10 million to help establish an independent rate-setting database.
Cuomo says that as a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group Inc., Ingenix had an interest in helping set rates low so companies could underpay patients for out-of-network services.
A WellPoint subsidiary, Empire BlueCross Blue Shield, is the largest health insurer in New York, with five million members.
Minnetonka, Minn.-based UnitedHealth has agreed to shut down the Ingenix database.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
