Aetna, Optum Get First Approval for $8.35 Million Fee Settlement

Aetna Inc. and OptumHealth Care Solutions Inc. received initial court approval for an $8.35 million class settlement aimed at resolving claims they wrongly conspired to charge patients administrative fees disguised as medical expenses.

The deal requires the defendants to pay $4.8 million—$4.6 million from Aetna and $200,000 from Optum—into a settlement fund that will be used to compensate individual patients and health plans for the alleged overpayments. It also requires Aetna to separately pay $3.55 million in attorneys’ fees, according to the settlement motion.

Patients will recover “most” of the challenged fees they paid, and health plans will recover ...