¶ 11:28 AM 0 commentsNew Lawsuit Alleges Unitedhealth/Pacificare Deceived Cancer PatientNew Lawsuit Alleges Pacificare Set Course Of Deception To Avoid Claims and Cancel Policy of 34 Year Old Kidney Cancer Patient To Increase Company Profits.
Irvine, CA (PRWeb) November 18, 2006 -- UnitedHealth Group, the nations second largest health insurer, and its subsidiary Pacificare of California were named in a lawsuit yesterday for canceling the health insurance policy and refusing to pay medical bills after a cancer patient sought treatment. (D'ANNA vs PACIFICARE OF CALIFORNIA #GIN057028)
The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of San Diego by attorneys Robert K. Scott and Scott Mahoney of the Irvine-based Law Offices of Robert K. Scott. The lawsuit adds UnitedHealth Group and Pacificare of California to the growing list of California insurers who have been accused of revoking health care polices after patients get sick.
UnitedHealth Group Inc Thursday announced a 38% jump in its third-quarter earnings, aided by gains from last years PacifiCare acquisition. Recent revelations of a "conflict of interest" have been reported at the DMHC during hearings on the merger between UnitedHealth and Pacificare in California.
"I was repulsed when I learned that the CEO of UnitedHealth Group had 1.6 Billion in stock options while I am being harassed by collection agencies for the medical bills Pacificare refused to pay", said Salvatore D'Anna, the Plaintiff in the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit filed yesterday, UnitedHealth Group and Pacificare of California allegedly failed to properly manage the patient's cancer treatment and withheld information that put his life in jeopardy to avoid the cost of a second surgery to remove his kidney because of remaining cancer reported in his Pathology report.
Pacificare allegedly withheld the coverage decision for the second surgery until the patient flew across the country for the procedure. Submitted documents indicate Pacificare informed the patient the day before the surgery that they were denying coverage which forced the patient to ask his parents to loan him $25,000 for a down payment on the surgery. When the patient returned home, instead of offering to pay for the surgery, Pacificare allegedly sent a letter that purported to cancel the policy.
The Complaint against UnitedHealth Group and Pacificare can be read here.
About The Law Offices of Robert K. Scott (www.robertkscott.com):
For over thirty years, The Law Offices of Robert K. Scott has sued insurance companies on behalf of both individual consumers and businesses against the abuses of the insurance industry. This area of law is known as "insurance bad faith." Our goal is to vigorously fight to protect your rights and to achieve maximum results for you.
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Press Contact: Robert K. Scott
Company Name: The Law Offices of Robert K Scott
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 949-753-4950
Website: www.robertkscott.com
¶ 3:33 PM 0 commentsPrescription Drug Discount Card a Holiday Season Gift for Consumers and Employees; Health Care Cost Alternative for Consumers and EmployeesHealth care spending continues to rise at the fastest rate in our history.
Tempe, AZ (PRWEB) November 14, 2006 -- Health care spending continues to rise at the fastest rate in our history and according to the National Coalition on Healthcare, experts agree that the health care system is riddled with inefficiencies, inflated prices, poor management, and inappropriate care, waste and fraud. These problems significantly increase health care costs, health insurance for employers and workers and affect the security of families. Health care and prescription drug discount cards that offer breaks on health care services, such as prescription drugs, hospital, physician, dental, vision and hearing can alleviate these rising costs.
HealthcareOne LLC, has a special Holiday gift for employees and families struggling with health care costs -- they're handing out free national prescription drug discount cards as early Holiday gifts between now and the end of the year. These cards will save individuals and families as much as 70% on brand and generic drugs. Rather than spending millions of dollars on an advertising campaign, founder and president, Michael Ellman figured it might be more cost effective to get his prescription drug discount card directly into the hands of consumers and employees.
The concept of the discount card continues to grow in popularity, with retail giant Wal-Mart and many drug manufacturers offering similar cards in an attempt to help the more than 47 million uninsured Americans afford prescription drugs. Ellman believes that more than 100 million Americans do not have any prescription drug discount plan.
Ellman said he is prepared to give cards to companies and organizations where the only cost to them would be for the plastic used to make the cards -- somewhere between 10 and 20 cents a card. Businesses may download the prescription discount card at no charge from the company's Web site. The offer is available until the end of first-quarter 2007.
"We intend to give away over 1 million Rx Cards," Ellman said. "This is basically to generate trials of our programs with the hope of having consumers and companies use our more comprehensive health care programs."
"We're willing to absorb the costs when it comes to business-to-business of the customer service associated with the card," Ellman said. "If a company is large enough we'll set up a separate Web site and co-brand the site. They can give discount cards as a perk to employees and even to their customers."
Individual consumers can call in for the free prescription drug card pay just a one-time $9.95 processing fee. Eventually, there will be a charge of approximately $8.95 a month, plus the one-time processing fee, which would net the company about $100 per card annually.
Ellman said he got the idea of the giveaway from his days at major advertising agencies working on Procter & Gamble brands, which gave out free product samples as a trial device. The prescription card is accepted at more than 60,000 retail pharmacies nationwide, including major chains such as CVS and Walgreens, through the publicly traded BioScrip pharmacy network.
Ellman said his healthcare discount cards target the 47 million Americans without any type of health insurance plan. He expects to have more 1 million members within three years. He expects to grow the number of customer-service specialists to grow to over 100 in the first quarter of 2007.
"The health care crisis really has escalated out of control for consumers, families and even for businesses that are or were providing some type of health care benefits for employees," Ellman said. "It seems that as days go by, fewer companies want to continue to provide benefits. A lot of people can't afford traditional health insurance. A lot of people can't afford to get the prescription medications they need."
This type of health care and prescription drug discount card can make a real difference for employees and their families. It would make a welcome addition to those bonus packages this holiday season.
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Press Contact: Mike Ellman
Company Name: Healthcareone
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 1-800-805-1647
Website: http://www.healthcareone.com
¶ 10:45 AM 0 commentsGlobal Orthopaedic Drug Market to Reach $44 Billion by 2010, Says New Report Available from Piribo.comPiribo, the online destination for business intelligence for the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, has just added to its collection a report on the global market for orthopaedic drugs. "The Worldwide Market for Prescription Orthopedic Drugs" (http://www.piribo.com/search/results.html?k=kal093&x=0&y=0) forecasts that the market will grow significantly in the next four years from 2005 market size of $26.8 billion.
(PRWEB) November 10, 2006 -- Piribo, the online destination for business intelligence for the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, has just added to its collection a report on the global market for orthopaedic drugs. "The Worldwide Market for Prescription Orthopedic Drugs" (http://www.piribo.com/search/results.html?k=kal093&x=0&y=0) forecasts that the market will grow significantly in the next four years from 2005 market size of $26.8 billion.
According to the report, treatments for arthritis show the greatest potential for rapid growth, with sales expected to increase by 15.8%. 2006 sales are expected to grow by more than 25% over 2005, when sales fell from the previous year largely due to the withdrawal of Vioxx and Bextra from the market and the suspension of direct-to-consumer advertising of select products including Celebrex.
As the world's population continues to age, the demand for therapeutics to treat a wide range of orthopaedic conditions such as osteoporosis, Paget's disease, and other bone loss and growth disorders is mounting. Generics are creeping into some sectors which until recently were brand-only, heightening competitive pressures within the market. Yet the anticipated approval of many promising products leaves the market wide open for healthy growth.
The report discuses common orthopaedic diseases and conditions in general and provides detailed information on individual diseases and conditions and treatment approaches. Each segment provides an overview, world and U.S. prevalence of the various conditions, a detailed description of products on the market, products in the research and development pipeline, and market estimates and forecasts by geographical region (U.S. vs. non-U.S.) and by treatment type, including:
- NSAIDs and Cox-2 Inhibitors
- Antirheumatoids (DMARDS)
- SERMs
- Estrogen Combinations
- Bisphosphonates
- Calcitonins
- Polypeptide Hormones
- Sandostatin Analogs
- Skeletal Muscle Relaxants
- Pain Medications, and more
"The Worldwide Market for Prescription Orthopedic Drugs" is available in PDF format from Piribo. For more information, go to: http://www.piribo.com/publications/prescription_drugs/world_market_prescription_orthopedic_drugs.html
About Piribo
Piribo is a UK-based independent online store supplying business information on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The website now carries over 5,500 English language titles including, market reports, studies and books and is the UK's largest online biopharma information store. Subscribers receive a free monthly newsletter and email alerts on new titles in their areas of interest. The company was established in 2004.
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Press Contact: BRENDT SHEEN
Company Name: Piribo
Email: email protected from spam bots
Phone: 02070607474
Website: http://www.piribo.com/publications/prescription_drugs/world_market_prescription_orthopedic_drugs.htm
