Investing.com -- The U.S. Justice Department has lodged a complaint against three of the nation’s largest health insurance companies, Aetna Inc (NYSE: AET ). CVS.N, Elevance Health ELV.N, and Humana (NYSE: HUM ) HUM.N. The complaint, filed under the False Claims Act, also impacts three substantial insurance broker organizations: eHealth (NASDAQ: EHTH ), GoHealth, and SelectQuote.

The federal government alleges that these insurers paid hundreds of millions of dollars in illegitimate kickbacks to the defendant brokers between 2016 and at least 2021. These payments were in exchange for enrollments into the insurers’ Medicare Advantage plans, according to the Justice Department’s statement.

The Justice Department also claimed that Aetna and Humana collaborated with the broker defendants to discriminate against Medicare beneficiaries with disabilities. This alleged discrimination was due to the perception that these beneficiaries were less profitable.

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