Aetna Wins $41M in Lawsuit Against Texas Hospital

Aetna Life Insurance Co. can collect up to $41.4 million from a small Texas hospital that engaged in a dishonest billing scheme, a federal judge ruled Dec. 31 (Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Humble Surgical Hosp., LLC, 2016 BL 436734, S.D. Tex., No. 4:12-cv-01206, 12/31/16).

In a heated opinion—which described the hospital as “filthy up to the elbows from lies and corrupt bargains"—the judge found that Humble Surgical Hospital LLC ran a kickback scheme with referring physicians that allowed it to submit inflated bills to Aetna.

The judge gave Aetna the option of recovering one ...