Contingencies and Other Matters |
9 Months Ended |
|---|---|
Sep. 30, 2023 | |
| Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] | |
| Contingencies and Other Matters | Note 16 – Contingencies and Other Matters The Company, through its subsidiaries, is contingently liable for various guarantees provided in the ordinary course of business. A.Financial Guarantees: Retiree and Life Insurance Benefits The Company guarantees that separate account assets will be sufficient to pay certain life insurance or retiree benefits. For the majority of these benefits, the sponsoring employers are primarily responsible for ensuring that assets are sufficient to pay these benefits and are required to maintain assets that exceed a certain percentage of benefit obligations. If employers fail to do so, the Company or an affiliate of the buyer of the retirement benefits business has the right to redirect the management of the related assets to provide for benefit payments. As of September 30, 2023, employers maintained assets that generally exceeded the benefit obligations under these arrangements of approximately $420 million. An additional liability is established if management believes that the Company will be required to make payments under the guarantees; there were no additional liabilities required for these guarantees, net of reinsurance, as of September 30, 2023. Separate account assets supporting these guarantees are classified in Levels 1 and 2 of the GAAP fair value hierarchy. The Company does not expect that these financial guarantees will have a material effect on the Company's consolidated results of operations, liquidity or financial condition. B.Certain Other Guarantees The Company had indemnification obligations as of September 30, 2023 in connection with acquisition and disposition transactions. These indemnification obligations are triggered by the breach of representations or covenants provided by the Company, such as representations for the presentation of financial statements, filing of tax returns, compliance with law or identification of outstanding litigation. These obligations are typically subject to various time limitations, defined by the contract or by operation of law, such as statutes of limitation. In some cases, the maximum potential amount due is subject to contractual limitations based on a percentage of the transaction purchase price, while in other cases limitations are not specified or applicable. The Company does not believe that it is possible to determine the maximum potential amount due under these obligations because not all amounts due under these indemnification obligations are subject to limitation. There were no liabilities for these indemnification obligations as of September 30, 2023. C.Guaranty Fund Assessments The Company operates in a regulatory environment that may require its participation in assessments under state insurance guaranty association laws. The Company's exposure to assessments for certain obligations of insolvent insurance companies to policyholders and claimants is based on its share of business written in the relevant jurisdictions. There were no material charges or credits resulting from existing or new guaranty fund assessments for the nine months ended September 30, 2023. Legal and Regulatory MattersThe Company is routinely involved in numerous claims, lawsuits, regulatory inquiries and audits, government investigations, including under the federal False Claims Act and state false claims acts initiated by a government investigating body or by a qui tam relator's filing of a complaint under court seal, and other legal matters arising, for the most part, in the ordinary course of managing a global health services business. Additionally, the Company has received and is cooperating with subpoenas or similar processes from various governmental agencies requesting information, all arising in the normal course of its business. Disputed tax matters arising from audits by the Internal Revenue Service or other state and foreign jurisdictions, including those resulting in litigation, are accounted for under GAAP guidance for uncertain tax positions.Pending litigation and legal or regulatory matters that the Company has identified with a reasonably possible material loss and certain other material litigation matters are described below. For those matters that the Company has identified with a reasonably possible material loss, the Company provides disclosure in the aggregate of accruals and range of loss, or a statement that such information cannot be estimated. The Company's accruals for the matters discussed below under "Litigation Matters" and "Regulatory Matters" are not material. Due to numerous uncertain factors presented in these cases, it is not possible to estimate an aggregate range of loss (if any) for these matters at this time. In light of the uncertainties involved in these matters, there is no assurance that their ultimate resolution will not exceed the amounts currently accrued by the Company. An adverse outcome in one or more of these matters could be material to the Company's results of operations, financial condition or liquidity for any particular period. The outcomes of lawsuits are inherently unpredictable and we may be unsuccessful in these ongoing litigation matters or any future claims or litigation.Litigation Matters Express Scripts Litigation with Elevance. In March 2016, Elevance filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging various breach of contract claims against Express Scripts relating to the parties' rights and obligations under the periodic pricing review section of the pharmacy benefit management agreement between the parties including allegations that Express Scripts failed to negotiate new pricing concessions in good faith, as well as various alleged service issues. Elevance also requested that the court enter declaratory judgment that Express Scripts is required to provide Elevance competitive benchmark pricing, that Elevance can terminate the agreement and that Express Scripts is required to provide Elevance with post-termination services at competitive benchmark pricing for one year following any termination by Elevance. Elevance claimed it is entitled to $13 billion in additional pricing concessions over the remaining term of the agreement, as well as $1.8 billion for one year following any contract termination by Elevance and $150 million damages for service issues ("Elevance's Allegations"). On April 19, 2016, in response to Elevance's complaint, Express Scripts filed its answer denying Elevance's Allegations in their entirety and asserting affirmative defenses and counterclaims against Elevance. The court subsequently granted Elevance's motion to dismiss two of six counts of Express Scripts' amended counterclaims. Express Scripts filed its Motion for Summary Judgment on August 27, 2021. Elevance completed filing of its Response to Express Scripts' Motion for Summary Judgment on October 16, 2021. Express Scripts filed its Reply in Support of its Motion for Summary Judgment on November 19, 2021. On March 31, 2022, the court granted summary judgment in favor of Express Scripts on all of Elevance's pricing claims for damages totaling $14.8 billion and on most of Elevance's claims relating to service issues. Elevance's only remaining service claims relate to the review or processing of prior authorizations, with alleged damages over $100 million. On November 1, 2023, the parties signed a settlement agreement pursuant to which Express Scripts agreed to resolve the service-related claims. The settlement agreement is not an admission of liability or fault by Express Scripts, the Company or its subsidiaries. Following the settlement, Elevance would retain the right to appeal the pricing-related claims that were previously dismissed by the court, while Express Scripts would retain the ability to reassert its own pricing-related claims in the event any appeal by Elevance is successful. Medicare Advantage. A qui tam action that was filed by a private individual (the "relator") on behalf of the government in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in 2017 was unsealed on August 6, 2020. The action asserts claims related to risk adjustment practices arising from certain health exams conducted as part of the Company's Medicare Advantage business. In September 2021, the qui tam action was transferred to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. On January 11, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") (U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Southern District of New York and the Middle District of Tennessee) filed a motion to partially intervene, which was granted on August 2, 2022. On October 14, 2022, the DOJ filed its complaint-in-intervention alleging that certain diagnoses made during in-home exams were invalid for risk adjustment purposes, seeking unspecified damages and penalties under the federal False Claims Act. The Company's motion to dismiss the DOJ's complaint is fully briefed and pending before the court. The Company's motion to dismiss relator's complaint was denied as moot after relator asked for and was granted permission to amend his complaint. Relator filed an amended complaint on July 28, 2023, which the Company moved to dismiss on September 11, 2023. On September 29, 2023, the Company, the relator and the DOJ settled the matter for $37 million plus interest and attorney’s fees. Regulatory Matters Civil Investigative Demand. The DOJ is conducting industry-wide investigations of Medicare Advantage organizations' risk adjustment practices. For certain Medicare Advantage organizations, including The Cigna Group, those investigations have resulted in litigation (see "Litigation Matters—Medicare Advantage" above). As part of these investigations, the Company responded to information requests (civil investigative demands) from the DOJ (U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania) regarding its risk adjustment submissions. On September 29, 2023, the Company settled the DOJ’s investigation for approximately $135 million plus interest. In connection with this settlement and the settlement of the litigation (see "Litigation Matters—Medicare Advantage" above), The Cigna Group also entered into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, which contains certain auditing and governance requirements for a period of five years from the settlement date.
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