Arizona health system wins 'unreasonable' charges suit

An Arizona health system has won an appeal of a case that claimed it imposed "unreasonable" charges for care. The patients' health plan, a CDHP known as Medical Savings Insurance Co., sued Banner Health in Phoenix, alleging Banner charged them more than 400 percent of its cost for providing care. But this week, an Arizona appeals court disagreed that Banner's prices weren't fair.

In the suit, the health plan and seven individual plaintiffs said Banner was required to include "a reasonable price term" as implied by the contracts. They noted Banner ordinarily only receives 34 percent of its billed charges from patients who received care, suggesting the charges in this case were out of line. Banner, in turn, sued the seven patients for breach of contract, contending forms the patients signed protect the plan.

To find out more about the suit:
- read this Modern Healthcare article (reg. req.)

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