Surprise Senator Weighs In as Arizona AG Sues Healthcare Giants Over Price-Fixing

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that major healthcare companies conspired to suppress payments to medical providers across the state. The suit names Multiplan, Aetna, Cigna, and UnitedHealthcare as defendants.

The attorney general accused the companies of using a shared algorithm to set out-of-network care prices, a practice that Mayes said harmed both patients and doctors.

The lawsuit’s core allegations

According to the lawsuit, the defendants used identical formulas and data to allocate payment decisions through Multiplan, a healthcare cost-management company. The result was artificially low payments to providers across the industry.

"MultiPlan and major insurance companies across Arizona allegedly conspired to keep payments to providers low in a scheme to pad their profit margins," Mayes said.

The attorney general’s office stated that the scheme has burdened Arizona’s healthcare system for over 10 years. The lawsuit claims patients forego treatment, accrue medical debt, and face provider shortages as a result.

Arizona is seeking a permanent injunction against the alleged price-fixing. The state also wants the defendants to return money to harmed patients, surrender profits from the scheme, and pay civil penalties.

Surprise senator calls out selective enforcement

State Sen. Janae Shamp, R-Surprise, responded to the lawsuit via email. Shamp, a nurse, said she is "deeply concerned about any practices that undermine fair reimbursement for providers and drive up costs for patients."

But she also criticized Mayes for focusing on private companies while ignoring what she described as fraud within state government programs.

"From wasteful spending in Medicaid to unchecked fraud in state contracts and bloated bureaucracies that bleed taxpayer dollars, Arizonans deserve an Attorney General who aggressively pursues every form of fraud — not just politically convenient targets in the private sector," Shamp said.

Shamp urged Mayes to "address the real systemic failures in government-run healthcare before lecturing private companies." She added that rural hospitals and mental health providers are already strained.

"Selective enforcement only exacerbates the crisis instead of solving it," Shamp said.

Defendants push back

Jen O’Conner, vice president of brand marketing for Multiplan, told The Center Square that the allegations are "without merit."

O’Conner said the company "complies with state and federal antitrust laws" and noted that similar theories have been dismissed by courts in the past.

"It is not uncommon to see copycat complaints filed in matters such as these, and similar theories have previously been dismissed by courts," O’Conner said.

Multiplan stated it will defend itself through the legal process and declined to comment further on the specifics of the complaint.

The lawsuit marks the latest legal action by Mayes’ office targeting large corporations. The attorney general has previously taken on companies in areas ranging from opioid settlements to consumer protection. How courts rule on this case could set precedent for how Arizona regulates healthcare payments and out-of-network billing practices.