UnitedHealth Subsidiary Wants Mental Health Coverage Class Axed

United Behavioral Health wants to pare back the class action challenging its coverage of mental health treatments, saying the patients involved in the lawsuit don’t have enough in common.

The May 3 motion for class decertification comes two months after a federal judge held the insurer’s internal guidelines on coverage for mental health and substance use disorders are too narrow and violate federal law. The guidelines don’t align with generally accepted standards of care because they’re overly concerned with addressing acute symptoms and stabilizing crises while ignoring the effective treatment of underlying conditions, the judge said after a 10-day trial. ...