UnitedHealth Unit Must Respond to Rehearing Bid in Coverage Spat

United Behavioral Health must respond to a petition asking the Ninth Circuit to rehear a case over the insurer’s mental health coverage guidelines, the court said in a signal of its potential interest in revisiting the dispute.

The court on Thursday gave the UnitedHealth Group Inc. subsidiary three weeks to respond to a petition seeking en banc rehearing of a March decision upholding the insurer’s coverage denials in the face of claims they were inconsistent with generally accepted standards of medical care. The order came from the three-judge panel that issued for the March ruling.

The lawsuit accuses United of ...