Presbyterian settles with state for $18.5M
The payment closes a case brought by Attorney General
But the case ends with Presbyterian admitting no wrongdoing and Balderas dropping the widespread-fraud charges, originally pressed in cooperation with employees at the Office of the Superintendent
The settlement documents claim the agreement is "without any admission by any party as to the strengths or weaknesses of any claim or defenses and without any fact or liability ... the Parties desire to settle any and all disputes."
But in their public comments Monday, both sides were less conciliatory.
"Presbyterian did not commit fraud, we did not file false claims in any manner," Maxwell said Monday. "There is no indication that Presbyterian acted wrongfully or did anything outside the law."
At an
"Presbyterian should not be bragging today," Balderas said. "The amount of money they are paying
He said the settlement happened quickly because it saved taxpayers' money and allows funds to be returned to the state for public services, including Medicaid.
"The state regulators and these health care companies should have paid these taxes years ago, even decades ago," he said.
Presbyterian spokeswoman
The additional
The dispute over insurance premium taxes goes back more than a decade and has been the source of public hearings before the Legislative Finance Committee, which helped fund several audits of the tax collections going back to 2003.
The final audit results by the
Of that amount, however, Presbyterian owed
Maxwell said the company was still examining the audit results and will work with the superintendent of insurance to answer questions about its remaining liability. The Balderas complaint focuses on a dispute over whether Medicaid insurance was obligated to pay the premium tax.
The remaining
"We will be working closely in a quick and transparent manner to resolve that issue with the OSI," said Maxwell.
Balderas and state Auditor
Balderas said there are inherent conflicts with the insurance office collecting taxes from the industry it regulates.
"The remaining health care companies need to quickly write checks," Balderas said. "I'm losing my patience. The fact that no other payments have been made except that forced by the attorney general is a black eye for
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