STAT+: DOJ urges judge to move forward with Medicare Advantage fraud case against UnitedHealth
The government alleges UnitedHealth failed to return at least $2 billion in Medicare Advantage overpayments in a case dating back years.
The Department of Justice on Wednesday urged a federal judge not to toss out its long-running fraud case against UnitedHealth Group that alleges the company illegally collected billions of dollars from the Medicare Advantage program.
The arguments from the DOJ amount to a last stand in the high-profile whistleblower case that it joined in 2017. The agency had until April 2 to respond to a special master’s recommendation from March, which said the DOJ lacked evidence to prove UnitedHealth illegally withheld at least $2 billion in overpayments from taxpayers.
UnitedHealth now has until May 2 to respond to the DOJ. A company spokesperson said its response to the DOJ would come then, and declined to comment further.
