United Healthcare Ordered to Face Mental Health Coverage Suit

United Healthcare Insurance Co. must defend a father’s lawsuit seeking coverage for a year’s worth of treatment his son received at two inpatient treatment centers for adolescents with mental health and substance use issues.

The family properly alleged that the treatment was medically necessary and not the type of “experimental” care left uncovered by their United policy, Judge Robert J. Shelby said. His opinion, issued Aug. 1 in the US District Court for the District of Utah, also greenlighted claims under the federal mental health parity statute, which requires health plans to cover mental health care on the same ...