WellPoint to pay up to $198 million for class-action settlement

Tuesday, July 12th 2005, 8:47 am

By: News On 6

MIAMI (AP) _ WellPoint Inc., the nation's biggest publicly traded health insurer, has agreed to pay up to $198 million to settle two class-action lawsuits brought by representatives of more than 700,000 doctors over alleged unfair payment practices.

The Indianapolis-based company said Monday it has agreed to pay $135 million to doctors and contribute $5 million to a nonprofit foundation aimed at improving health care for the disadvantaged. It also said it would pay legal fees of up to $58 million.

Eighteen state medical societies joined in the suit, including groups in Texas, Connecticut, New Jersey, Florida and Georgia. Physicians accused the insurance giant of using a host of techniques to wrongly reduce doctor payments and refusing to cover certain tests and treatments.

``While not perfect, this settlement promises unfettered physician-patient communication when it comes to discussing treatment options with their patients,'' said Dr. John Antalis, president of the Medical Association of Georgia.

Larry C. Glasscock, president and chief executive officer of WellPoint, said the settlement is ``a very important step in further collaborating with physicians.'' The statement did not acknowledge any wrongdoing by the company.

If approved by U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno, the agreement will settle two national lawsuits against WellPoint Health Networks Inc. and Anthem Inc., which merged last year to create the current company. WellPoint, the nation's leading health benefits provider with 28.5 million members, operates mainly under the names Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

One suit pitted a nationwide class of physicians against major national managed care companies, while a second lawsuit was brought against the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, WellPoint said.

Health Net, Prudential, Aetna and Cigna previously settled with the doctors.