Los
Angeles,
CA,
April
11,
2025
–(PR.com)– In
a
closely
watched
national
class
action
involving
allegations
of
UnitedHealthcare’s
predatory
practices
and
Medicare
Advantage
fraud,
U.S.
District
Judge
Almadani
wrote:
“This
Court
does
not
minimize
the
seriousness
of
the
allegations
in
the
Complaint
or
the
grave
issues
in
addressing
vulnerable
populations’
access
to
healthcare.”
While
the
court
granted
UnitedHealth’s
motion
to
dismiss
solely
on
“preemption”
grounds,
it
made
a
point
to
recognize
the
gravity
of
the
issues.
The
case,
filed
in
the
United
States
District
Court
for
California
No.
8:23-cv-02303,
alleges
that
UnitedHealth—the
nation’s
largest
provider
of
for-profit
Medicare
Advantage
plan—used
systemic
and
predatory
advertising
to
deliberately
mislead
vulnerable
seniors
into
abandoning
their
Original
Medicare
benefits
for
UnitedHealthcare’s
commercially-driven
“Medicare-[Dis]advantage”
plans.
“We
are
fighting
not
just
for
accountability
for
allegedly
what
happened
to
our
clients
and
so
many
just
like
them,
but
to
protect
other
families
from
unknowingly
giving
up
their
Medicare
benefits
through
slick
sales
pitches,
frank
lies,
and
corporate
greed,”
said
Gloria
Juarez,
lead
counsel
for
the
Estate.
“This
is
either
happening
to
you,
your
parents,
your
grandparents,
and
people
you
know—and
no
one
in
power
is
stopping
it.
UnitedHealth
posted
over
$22.3
billion
in
profits
in
2023.
Their
CEO
was
recently
gunned
down
in
Manhattan—
and
some
have
called
Luigi
Mangione’s
alleged
act
a
symptom
of
rising
outrage
against
unchecked
greed
and
destruction
of
American
lives,”
she
added.
The
Complaint
alleges
that
one
such
senior,
D.D.,
a
96-year-old
cancer
patient,
was
misled
into
giving
up
her
long-standing
Medicare
benefits
and
denied
access
to
her
trusted
cancer
doctors;
her
treatment
was
delayed,
her
bills
went
unpaid,
and
she
was
sent
to
collections
and
sued;
UnitedHealthcare
denied
her
claims,
even
while
profiting
from
her
care
for
their
bonus
reports
to
Medicare;
she
was
left
without
recourse,
despite
having
done
nothing
wrong.
The
dismissal
is
reversible
error.
“With
Chevron
gone,
courts
are
no
longer
required
to
defer
to
CMS
regulations
that
override
consumer
protections
granted
by
Congress,”
said
Juarez.
“The
Medicare
Act
has
never
expressly
preempted
state
law
consumer
protections,
Preemption
has
become
essentially
a
perpetual
get-out-of-jail-free
card
for
gorilla-sized
healthcare
corporations,
especially
in
the
context
of
elder
abuse.”
The
anticipated
Ninth
Circuit
appeal
will
seek
reinstatement
and
class
certification.