A managed care company should return $3.9 million of the $71.6 million that New York state paid the company for administering a state employee health plan from 2004 to 2007, state officials say.
The health insurance unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc., Minnetonka, Minn., collected more than it should have collected if the charges were based on actual costs at the New York State Health Insurance Program, according to New York state auditors.
New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has presented the auditors' findings in an audit report.
The New York State Civil Service Commission, which oversees the NYSHIP plan, is negotiating with UnitedHealth to change the way the company charges for its services, officials say.
The NYSHIP plan covers active and retired state, local government and school district employees.
UnitedHealth is responsible for administering the medical-surgical and major medical portion of the Empire Plan, NYSHIP's primary health plan.
Officials say a UnitedHealth unit improperly calculated the amount it charged the state for insuring the risk of administering the Empire Plan.
