In an expansion of its ongoing effort to expose and prohibit an industry-wide health insurance scheme to defraud patients and physicians of proper reimbursement, the American Medical Association (AMA: undefined, undefined, undefined%) today announced it is among several medical societies that filed a class action lawsuit against WellPoint, Inc., the largest health insurer in the U.S.

The lawsuit, filed today in Los Angeles federal court, alleges that WellPoint colluded with others to underpay physicians for out-of-network medical services, resulting in patients paying an excessive portion of the medical bill. The AMA filed similar class action lawsuits last month against Aetna Health, Inc. and CIGNA Corporation.

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