Class-action suit by 600K docs against 6 insurers.

I don't see anyone else reporting this story, but according to a story in Thursday's N.Y. Times by Milt Freudenheim,"[a]n appeals court upheld class-action status yesterday for a lawsuit brought on behalf of at least 600,000 doctors contending that six of the nation's largest health insurers regularly reduce payments for medical services. . . . A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, ruled that the defendants . . . must stand trial on charges of violating the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO. [Private civil RICO actions are authorized by 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c).] Health insurance lawyers had said that the appeals panel ruling would be crucial to the case's outcome."

Indeed. The article quotes Stephanie Kanwit, "a lawyer for a health insurance trade association in Washington [America's Health Insurance Plans], [who] said last December that 'class action is absolutely the crucial issue.' She added that the doctors' cases were 'not provable on a case-by-case basis.'"

That's how the 11th Circuit panel saw it, too: "In their suit, the doctors argue that the companies wrongfully underpaid them in various ways, including the use of computer programs that routinely denied parts of their fees. After reviewing the accusations, the appeals panel said, 'It is ridiculous to expect 600,000 doctors across the nation to repeatedly prove these complicated and overwhelming facts.'"

My usual links for free access to the court's opinion (Klay v. Humana, Inc.) -- FindLaw, 11th Cir. homepage -- aren't producing the slip opinion. By the time you are reading this, I hope the links are working. (For WestLaw subscribers, this is the link: 2004 WL 1938845.)