Christina Spicer  |  September 11, 2014

Category: Consumer News

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Kaiser PermanenteKaiser Permanente Insurance Co. was hit with a class action lawsuit in California on Tuesday, alleging the company of strong-arming the most disabled psychiatric patients into canceling their plans with the large insurance provider.

Plaintiffs Douglass Kerr and Matthew Szitzkar-Kerr allege in their class action lawsuit that psychiatric patients who are covered by Kaiser’s insurance plan are told by Kaiser that they will only receive care if they cancel their insurance. Then, allege the plaintiffs, psychiatric patients become uninsured and eligible for public assistance, including Medicare and California’s Medicaid program “Medi-Cal.”

Additionally, the plaintiffs contend that other patients insured by Kaiser with different ailments, such as cancer, are not told to cancel their coverage with Kaiser.

Kerr is the conservator, the legal guardian, of Szitzkar-Kerr. He is a California resident whose son was diagnosed with a severe mental illness.

Kerr alleges in the class action lawsuit that “[d]espite [Kaiser’s] obligation to provide all medically necessary care and treatment, Kaiser, as a result of [the plaintiff’s son’s] Conservatorship, which was ordered on February 13, 2014, refused to meet this obligation.”

“Instead,” continues the compaint, “once the conservatorship was issued Kaiser instructed [the plaintiff and his wife] to ‘disenroll’ [their son] from their Kaiser health plan.”

The plaintiffs argue that this practice, called “patient dumping,” is a way Kaiser shifts the costs of caring for mentally ill people covered by their plans to tax payers and the practice violates California’s anti-discrimination law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act.

The Kerr alleges in the Kaiser class action lawsuit that “[u]nder California’s mental Health parity Act (”Parity Act”), health insurers must provide all medically necessary treatment for patients suffering from a severe mental illness on the same financial terms and conditions (e.g., co-payments, deductibles and lifetime maximums) as for physical illnesses.”

The California man also claims that Kaiser’s alleged patient-dumping practices violate California’s competition and anti-fraud laws, as well as access to care laws.

The Kerrs are seeking statutory damages of $4,000 for each violation of the Unruh Act from Kaiser, additional damages for breaches of contract and good faith and fair dealing, treble damages, class certification, fees and a permanent injunction against Kaiser to stop its alleged patient dumping practices.

The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) lodged a complaint and hit Kaiser with a $4 million fine over accusations that Kaiser did not provide patients covered by its insurance plans with access to mental care. The DMHC issued the fine against Kaiser in June 2013 in response to Kaiser’s lack of action regarding findings of major problems with the insurance provider in a March 2013 report issued by DMHC.

Kaiser was hit with this class action lawsuit on the heels of its decision to drop its appeal against the DMHC’s fine.

The plaintiffs are represented by Kathryn Trepinski of the Law Offices of Kathryn Trepinski.

The Kaiser ‘Patient-Dumping’ Mentally Ill Patients Class Action Lawsuit is Douglas Kerr as the Conservator for Matthew Szitkar-Kerr, vs. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. et al., Case No. BC556863 in the Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles, Central District.

UPDATE: On Dec. 6, 2018, a Kaiser class action lawsuit over allegations that the insurance company required disabled patients with psychiatric problems to cancel their insurance plans has been settled.

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2 thoughts onClass Action Accuses Kaiser of ‘Patient Dumping’ Mentally Ill Patients

  1. Peggy says:

    My daughter had Kaiser medi-cal in San Diego and they refused her care in psychiatry

  2. Guillermo A. Arce says:

    …and I have the proof that this is the case, in writing, from Kaiser. In their letter the confirmed that I must drop my daughter from coverage so Medi-Cal, the California version of Medicaid, pays for her care.

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