Some UnitedHealth Group Inc. customers claim thehealth insurer defrauded them by setting up a system that secretlyovercharged for prescription drugs.

UnitedHealth customers made co-payments far in excess ofthe costs of actual drugs, sometimes paying $50 for a drug thatcost the insurer less than $15, according to a lawsuit filedTuesday in Minnesota.

The accusations follow recent scandals over inflated drug pricesinvolving Mylan NV’s EpiPen allergy treatment and formerTuring Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Officer Martin Shkreli’smore than 5,000 percent price hike for the drug Daraprimin 2015. Turing’s medicine treats a rare parasitic disease.

UnitedHealth’s overcharges were “improper and illegal”since the insurer was already paid to provide prescription drugsthrough health-insurance premiums, according to the complaint. Thelawsuit, which seeks class-action status on behalf of tens ofthousands of customers, also accuses the insurer of clawing backthe excess payments from pharmacies to improve its bottomline.

Pharmacy benefits

UnitedHealth hasn’t yet been served with the complaint,spokesman Tyler Mason said Wednesday.

“Pharmacy benefits are administered in line with the coveragedescribed in the plan documents,” Mason said in an e-mail.

It’s not the first time UnitedHealth has been accused ofovercharging customers for prescription drugs. The Minnetonka,Minnesota-based insurer was sued in 2000 for allegedly forcingconsumers to hand over co-payments higher than specified by theirplan contracts.

UnitedHealth agreed to pay about $10 million to resolve theover-charging claims spanning a three-year period starting in 1997.The insurer didn’t admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement,according to court filings.

The new case is Mohr v. UnitedHealth Group Inc., 16-cv-03352,U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

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