OptumRx Scores Arbitration Over Weight-Loss Drug Claim Approvals

A $4.3 million lawsuit claiming OptumRx Inc. wrongly approved thousands of claims for weight-loss drugs was kicked to arbitration by a federal judge in Minnesota.

The plaintiffs, individual trustees of the Operating Engineers Local #49 Health & Welfare Fund, are bound by the participation agreement between Optum and the chair of the fund’s board of trustees and thus must comply with the agreement’s arbitration clause, Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan of the US District Court for the District of Minnesota said in a Thursday opinion.

The trustees argued they weren’t bound by this requirement because they didn’t personally sign it, ...