Judge Rejects Optum’s Attempt to Toss Lawsuit Over Asthma Death

Optum Rx Inc. must face a lawsuit over a young man’s death from asthma after he couldn’t afford his inhaler, a federal judge in Wisconsin ruled.

The UnitedHealth Group subsidiary managed prescription drugs for Cole Schmidtknecht’s UnitedHealthcare plan in January 2024, when he abandoned his Advair Diskus inhaler at a Walgreens Co. pharmacy after a change in the plan’s coverage caused the price to spike to $539. He suffered a fatal asthma attack five days later.

The case is a high-profile example of the scrutiny on pharmacy benefit managers like Optum, which are under fire from Congress, the Federal Trade ...