Three insurance companies owned by UnitedHealth must pay over $165 million for misleading thousands of customers in Massachusetts into paying for additional health insurance, a state judge has ruled.
According to Reuters, Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Hélène Kazanjian said that HealthMarkets, acquired by UnitedHealth in 2019, and two of its subsidiaries had marketed major medical and supplemental insurance in bundles from 2012 to 2016 in a way that deceived consumers into buying supplemental policies. The UnitedHealth-owned companies had already been found liable for violating the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act, according to Reuters. The judge's ruling followed a non-jury trial to assess the damages. Per the outlet, Judge Kazanjian said sales agents in the three companies were trained to hide the costs of individual policies so consumers were kept in the dark as to what they were buying. The judge deemed the companies' actions 'egregious,' adding that it 'targeted vulnerable consumers who could least afford their products.' The collective total of $165 million is the largest civil penalty Massachusetts has ever recovered under the state's consumer protection law, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said after the ruling, Reuters reported. Her team had asked for a total of $368 million, so the grand sum fell short of what her team had requested, but she still praised the decision by Judge Kazanjian.Campbell's office did not receive the larger sum because the judge concluded that the state had failed to show the extent to which any Massachusetts consumers were harmed by misleading statements the companies made in TV and radio advertisement
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