Labor Dept. Wants Pause on Suits Over Troubled Health Plan

The Labor Department is asking a federal judge to temporarily block medical providers and other creditors from bringing collection actions against people who received health insurance coverage from a troubled multiple employer welfare arrangement.

The department’s lawsuit targets AEU Holdings LLC and related entities in charge of a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) that, at its height, provided health and welfare benefits to about 14,000 people across 36 states. AEU allegedly failed to pay more than $29 million in health benefit claims, and creditors have initiated collection actions against “multiple” participants in the MEWA, the department said. In papers filed ...