United North Carolina has agreed to pay a fine of $ 3.4 million and take measures to improve claims management and avoid balance billing for treatment outside the network after an investigation from the State Insurance Department detailed multiple accusations .

“Patients who receive services from the emergency room certainly do not have the time or ability to go through a verification list and ensure that all the suppliers who attend them are on the network,” said state insurance commissioner Mike Causey in a newsletter published on Friday. “The practices of Unitedhealthcare potentially put unnecessary financial charges in many Northern Carolinians. I’m glad to see that Unitedhealthcare has agreed to take corrective measures. “

The Unitedhealthcare officials could not be contacted immediately to comment. The Doi said that the health insurer did not admit the positions described in a report on the department’s investigation, and the company has denied violating the statutes and regulations.

The Doi Market Regulation Division began its four -year investigation after the department saw a sustained trend in the complaints of the members of UnitedHealthcare and medical care suppliers. The investigation found that patients had been billed by costs above their deductibles, co -coinus and coastal requirements.

The North Carolina Law prohibits health insurers from imposing shared costs for emergency services that differ from shared costs on the network, if a delay in the search for attention would have worsened the emergency or if the choice of supplier was outside the patient control. The treatments were mainly provided by anesthesiology, laboratory and emergency room suppliers, and some of them were carried out in work facilities on the network, the DOI explained.

The lack of anesthesiology and laboratory suppliers of anesthesiology and laboratory of companies available in the work facilities in the network should not affect the level of benefit of the member or the responsibilities of cost costs for the covered services, according to the investigation, Doi pointed out.

The Insurance Department also said that Unitedhealthcare did little to help insured patients who had been with equilibrium peak. In many cases, UnitedHealthcare did not follow their own procedures to negotiate with suppliers to stop the harmless member, said the DOI.

The Fine Caps for two difficult years for the leadership of the United Group, who endured an expensive cyberattack in a subsidiary and saw the CEO of the insurer shots in New York in December. The shooting was possibly related to denied or delayed claim payments or procedures that were not covered.

Last year, the United States Senate investigated Unitedhealthcare and two other health insurance companies for denying or delaying claims for some patients, the New York Times, Stat and other media reported. In October last year, the Washington State Insurance Commissioner fined United $ 5,000 for not presenting timely opportunities.

North Carolina Doi’s fine can have little impact on the final result of United. The company reported record income of $ 400 billion in 2024 and net income of $ 14.4 billion, according to the company and news reports. The gain would have been greater and would have established a new record for the company if it were not for a cyber attack against its subsidiary, changes medical care, which according to the reports cost units almost $ 3 billion, and due to the highest yields of His Medicare and Medicaid plans, the Healthcaledive news site reported.

The payment of $ 3.4 million mine will be sent to the public schools of North Carolina, as required by the state constitution, said the Causey office.