Case: Health Care & Benefits/Assignment (E.D.N.Y.)

A federal district court in New York granted Aetna Life Insurance Co.'s motion to dismiss The Central Orthopedic Group LLP’s ERISA action seeking payment for services rendered at Aetna’s out-of-network rate. The court said that each of the insurance policies contains an anti-assignment clause that renders ineffective the assignment of rights from the patients to the group, and rejected the group’s assertions that typical communications between it and Aetna regarding the claims constitute a waiver of the anti-assignment clauses.