Class Action Accuses UnitedHealthcare of Misleading Seniors Into Giving Up Medicare Benefits
LOS ANGELES, July 28, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a closely watched national class action involving allegations of UnitedHealthcare's predatory practices and Medicare Advantage fraud, U.S. District Judge Monica Ramirez Almadani wrote in her March 28, 2025 order:
"This Court does not minimize the seriousness of the allegations in the Complaint or the grave issues in addressing vulnerable populations' access to healthcare."
While the district court granted UnitedHealth’s motion to dismiss solely on "preemption" grounds, the Court made a point to recognize the gravity of the issues at stake. The case is captioned The Estate of Bibi Ahmad v. UnitedHealth Group Inc., filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California No. 8:23-cv-02303, alleges that UnitedHealth—the nation's largest provider of for-profit Medicare Advantage plans—used systemic and predatory advertising to deliberately mislead vulnerable seniors into abandoning their Original Medicare benefits for UnitedHealthcare's commercially-driven, purely profit-motivated, "Medicare-Disadvantage" plans.
"We are fighting not just for accountability for what happened to Ms. Ahmad, D.D., and G.L., and so many just like them, but to protect other families from unknowingly giving up their Medicare benefits through slick sales pitches, frank lies, and corporate greed and corruption," said Gloria Juarez, lead counsel for the Estate.
"This is either happening to you, your parents, your grandparents, and people you know — and no one in power is stopping it. Seniors are being driven into bankruptcy through denied UnitedHealthcare medical claims while the company posted over $22.3 billion in profits in 2023 and continues to reward shareholders with soaring earnings. Their CEO was recently gunned down in Manhattan — and some have called Luigi Mangione's alleged act a symptom amid growing public outrage against unchecked healthcare greed and destruction of American lives," she added.
The dismissal was in error, especially in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning the Chevron doctrine, which formerly gave substantial deference to federal agency interpretations. "With Chevron gone, courts are no longer required to defer to CMS regulations that override consumer protections granted by Congress," said Juarez. "The Medicare Act has never expressly preempted state law consumer protections, Preemption has become essentially a perpetual got-out-of-jail-free card for gorilla-sized healthcare corporations, especially in the context of elder abuse and fraudulent advertising."
The lawsuit alleges that UnitedHealth engaged in pervasive, misleading representations across advertisements, emails, and direct marketing suggesting that its Medicare Advantage plans 'combine the benefits of Original Medicare' and serve as a 'fallback' or supplement to Original Medicare, when in fact enrollees were required to surrender their OM entirely. UnitedHealthcare's misrepresentations were not isolated puffery, or incidental but formed the cornerstone of a decade-long running campaign to fraudulently steer Medicare beneficiaries into UnitedHealthcare enrollment.
One such senior, D.D., a 96-year-old Southern California cancer patient, was misled into giving up her long-standing Medicare benefits and denied access to her trusted cancer doctors. Her treatment was delayed, her bills went unpaid, and she was sent to collections and sued. UnitedHealthcare denied her claims, even while profiting from her care for their bonus reports to CMS. She was left without recourse, despite having done nothing wrong. The complaint asserts claims under California’s False Advertising Law, Unfair Competition Law, and Consumers Legal Remedies Act.
The anticipated appeal to the Ninth Circuit will seek reinstatement of the District Court case, so that discovery and class certification proceedings can move forward. According to the pleadings, UnitedHealthcare's fraudulent advertising campaign affected hundreds of thousands of seniors nationwide, particularly in California. The appellate court is expected to consider whether the expanded federal CMS regulations exceeded congressional authorization post-Chevron, and whether UnitedHealthcare gets to keep its "preemption" get-out-of-jail-fee card.
Media Contact:
Law Offices of Gloria Juarez
Gloria Juarez, Esq.
Email: gloria@thegjlaw.com
Telephone: 949-288-3402
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