California woman sues Kaiser, says health insurer illegally charged her for COVID-19 test
A San Rafael-based law firm filed a class-action lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente, saying the health care giant is billing its members for COVID-19 tests despite mandates prohibiting those charges during the federal public health emergency.
The law firm Seeger Devine said in the lawsuit that Kaiser member Faye Getubig requested only a COVID-19 test in June 2022 but that Oakland-based performed a multiplex test for COVID-19 and two strains of influenza.
Kaiser then sent Getubig a bill showing the cost of all the tests was $536 and requesting she pay $310 of the total fee, the legal complaint stated. Getubig insisted the test should have been free, according to her suit, but Kaiser continued to pursue payment.
In a written statement, Kaiser Permanente officials said that, in compliance with state and federal laws, its policy is not to charge for COVID-19 testing, including the multiplex test, so they are reviewing their records and Getubig’s allegations.
“If she has identified an error regarding her bill, we will certainly correct it,” company officials stated. “Over the last 2.5 years of the pandemic we have supported our members and patients in obtaining a total of more than 20 million COVID-19 tests.”
The complaint asserted that Getubig, a California resident, knows of other members who have also been billed for the multiplex test, an assay that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has described as “a single test” that allows public health authorities to monitor the spread of two diseases.
The lawsuit, filed in Alameda Superior Court, requests that the court immediately bar Kaiser Permanente from charging for COVID-19 tests and require the insurer to reimburse any members who have paid for the tests.
A provision of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, more commonly known as the CARES Act, provides that health insurers “shall provide coverage, and shall not impose any cost sharing (including deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance) requirements or prior authorization or other medical management requirements” for COVID-19 tests during the public health emergency.
“Kaiser’s business practice of illegally charging consumers exorbitant prices for COVID tests hurts not only the consumers who have to pay these illegal charges, it also hurts the general public,” attorney Brian Devine stated in a news release sent to The Bee on Monday. “After all, if Kaiser charges hundreds of dollars for a COVID test, fewer people will be able to afford to be tested, even if the Centers for Disease Control recommends that they should be tested. And when fewer people who have been exposed to COVID are tested, the more likely it is that COVID will continue to spread through our community.”
The Biden administration has extended the federal public health emergency through October 13, 2022.
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 5:25 AM with the headline "California woman sues Kaiser, says health insurer illegally charged her for COVID-19 test."
