Humana Ignored Obamacare Cancellation Requests, Class Action Says

Class action lawsuit says Humana ignored cancellation requests from policyholders who wanted to switch plans under Obamacare.

Humana Inc. has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that the health insurance company raised premiums due to policy changes caused by Obamacare but didn’t give policy holders an option to cancel their new plans if they wanted.

“Humana policyholders who desired to cancel their policies were unable to because Humana failed to provide policyholders with a reasonable method to do so or ignored policyholders’ cancellation requests,” the class action lawsuit states.

Missouri resident Daniel Doyle filed the class action lawsuit against Humana in a Missouri federal court.

Doyle says that he received a letter from Humana on Aug. 28, 2013 saying that his policy would be cancelled Dec. 31, 2013 and be replaced with a new one in 2014. The letter said that Humana was required to cancel the insurance plan according to Missouri law and that the new insurance rates were approved by the Missouri Department of Insurance, which Doyle alleges were both not true . He was also told at the time that his monthly premium was increasing from $229.30 to $395.97.

He then received another letter on Oct. 24, 2013, clarifying the changes explained in the first letter.

At that point, Doyle found a new health insurance policy he liked better from Blue Cross Blue Shield and decided to cancel his Humana plan.

Once that plan was made official in November 2013, he contacted Humana to cancel but was not able to talk to anyone who could help him do so. He tried again a few days later but was still unable to talk to anyone at Humana that would help him cancel his plan. He also tried to cancel his plan in writing via fax and mail.

On Jan. 10, 2014, Doyle finally spoke with a representative from Humana, but the individual said that he was unable to cancel his policy after they talked for about 20 minutes.

The Humana class action lawsuit is for all individuals who have unsuccessfully tried to cancel their Humana health insurance policies, but are still being billed monthly premiums since Dec. 31, 2013.

Doyle is charging Humana with violating Kentucky’s Consumer Protection Act.

“Defendant’s unlawful practices include, among other things: canceling customers’ policies but still charging them for new premium payments; failing to provide policyholders with a reasonable method for canceling their policies; ignoring policyholders cancellation requests; and, continuing to deduct premiums from policyholder’s accounts and/or social security checks and/or invoicing policyholder’s for alleged ‘past due’ amounts after policies were cancelled,” the Humana class action lawsuit states.

The plaintiff is represented by Eric L. Dirks and Michael A. Williams of Williams Dirks LLC.

The Humana Insurance Class Action Lawsuit is Daniel L. Doyle v. Humana Inc., Case No. 4:14-cv-00061, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.