[Updated September 12, 2019 to add link to our archive of Arce vs. Kaiser autism class action lawsuit documents and court filings] Great news! The Arce vs. Kaiser autism class action lawsuit has been settled, resulting in the creation of a $9 million fund to reimburse members who incurred out-of-pocket expenses due to having their… Read More »
This is an interesting find. Seems that Kaiser Permanente was fined an administrative penalty of $75,000 by the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) back in June 2010, for unnecessarily delaying Andrew Arce’s autism treatment. The Letter of Agreement doesn’t have the patient’s name on it, but a little birdy inside Kaiser assures us that Andrew is indeed the member in question, and all of the facts fit. It’s a long letter that interested parties can read here, but we have pulled out the highlights from the DMHC’s conclusions below:
Great news! The California Court of Appeals has reversed a prior ruling (pdf) by the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, and has sustained Andrew Arce’s right to a class action lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente. The case is scheduled for a jury trial on March 22, 2010 absent any delays.
Kaiser Permanente is attempting to compel arbitration in the Arce vs. Kaiser autism lawsuit. Why? Because arbitration is a closed proceeding that is rigged in KP’s favor, of course! We don’t know what this would mean for the class action portion of the case, but hopefully someone with a more brilliant legal mind than ours will explain in the comments.
In April we posted a request from California attorney Scott Glovsky, who is seeking plaintiffs for a class action lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente for refusing to cover treatments for autism as required by law. The lawsuit — which was filed on behalf of Andrew Arce, a two-year-old child Kaiser has denied treatment — alleges breach of contract, bad faith, and unfair dealing, and is seeking class action status on the third complaint.
On 04/08/2008 a lawsuit was filed against Kaiser Permanente in Los Angeles Superior Court, on behalf of a two-year-old child that Kaiser has refused to treat for autism. The lawsuit accuses Kaiser of breach of contract, bad faith, unfair dealing, and is seeking class action status on the third complaint. As a result of the case, the DMHC is conducting a massive investigation into Kaiser’s practice of dumping all autistic children onto the government for care, and shifting its financial obligation onto taxpayers.