9th Cir. Throws Wrench in ‘Most Important’ ERISA Case of Century (1)

Patients challenging United Behavioral Health’s internal guidelines for mental health coverage got bad news Tuesday, when the Ninth Circuit again undid a decision allowing them to have their benefit claims reprocessed as a certified class.

The decision certifying a class of patients seeking claims reprocessing didn’t fully account for individual differences in the patients’ cases, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said. The class improperly included patients whose claims were denied based on guidelines that weren’t challenged by the litigation, along with patients for whom the challenged guidelines were only part of the reason their claims ...