Ingenix database to be shut down

Andrew Cuomo has had enough of patients paying too much in reimbursement payments because of conflicts of interest. The New York Attorney General confirmed that Cigna Corp. will join a nationwide effort to reform how such rates are set.

Up until now, Cigna has used a controversial database--Ingenix, which is owned by UnitedHealth Group Inc.--to figure out how much patients would owe in reimbursement fees should they see doctors outside of their insurance network. Conflicts of interest have led to many patients overpaying, according to The Washington Post, thus the need to reform. Cigna apparently will throw in $10 million of the company's own money to create a new, independent database.

In the meantime, UHG has agreed to shut down the Ingenix database. Cuomo has already waged a similar battle with Aetna in which the insurance group agreed to pay more than $5 million because it initially underpaid patients' out-of-network costs.

To learn more:
- read this article in The Washington Post

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