Amerigroup to pay $225 million judgment

CHICAGO, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Amerigroup Corp. has agreed to a $225 million settlement in a medical fraud case, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Amerigroup, based in Virginia Beach, Va., "systematically avoided enrolling pregnant women and other high-risk patients in their managed care operation in Illinois," a department statement said.

The company appealed a $334 million judgment against it issued March 2007. The new settlement, which replaces that judgment, "remains the largest ever award in a federal health care fraud case in the Northern District of Illinois," the statement said.

In October 2006, jurors awarded the United States and the State of Illinois $48 million in damages, an award that was automatically tripled under state and federal statutes to $144 million. In March 2007, U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenwebber pushed the total by adding $10,500 on each of 18,130 claims for an additional $190 million, the statement said.

"This office takes health care fraud very seriously. A settlement of this magnitude makes clear that it does not pay for insurance companies to discriminate against pregnant women," said Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.