News Briefs: Kraft Heinz Sues CVS for Fiduciary Breach

The Kraft Heinz group has sued Aetna, alleging the insurer “leveraged its role as the third-party administrator or ‘TPA’ to enrich itself to Kraft Heinz’s detriment” and breached its fiduciary duties to the employer. The lawsuit contends that Aetna “(a) paid millions of dollars in provider claims that never should have been paid, (b) wrongfully retained millions of dollars in undisclosed fees, and (c) engaged in claims-processing related misconduct to the detriment of Kraft Heinz,” which contracted with the insurer to provide medical and dental benefits for the company’s employees, retirees and their family members. The firm is asking the court to force Aetna to reimburse it for losses linked to the insurer’s alleged fiduciary breach, along with any related profits.

Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers are again set to collect major payouts from the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment program, STAT reported based on an analysis of new federal data. The risk adjustment program transfers funds from ACA marketplace insurers that have lower-risk enrollees to those with higher-risk enrollees. STAT found that more than two dozen Blues insurers are projected to collect over $4.7 billion in risk-adjustment transfers for 2022, with Florida Blue, Health Care Service Corp. and Blue Shield of California due the largest amounts.