United Patients’ Billing Tactic Appeal Fails on Standing Grounds

UnitedHealth Group Inc. defeated an appeal challenging its controversial billing practice of reimbursing doctors through debt cancellation because the patients who filed suit hadn’t suffered an injury giving them standing, the Eighth Circuit ruled Monday.

Plaintiffs Rebecca Smith and Cristine Ghanim didn’t allege that United breached a contractual term or otherwise injured them through its conduct, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit said, affirming the lower court’s ruling. The billing practice they challenge—known as cross-plan offsetting—is explicitly authorized by the terms of their health plans, the court said.

The patients said they’d been harmed because United’s failure ...