In what is apparently the first lawsuit of its kind in the nation, the University of Minnesota and the estate of a man who died of AIDS complications are suing his union because its health insurance plan did not pay full benefits for him.
The impact of the lawsuit could go far beyond the AIDS community because it is being filed under the new wide-ranging Americans With Disabilities Act, said Gayle Dixon, legal program coordinator for the Minnesota AIDS Project.
The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, claims the union’s health plan violates the act because it limits coverage in AIDS cases to $50,000 while it pays up to $500,000 for other illnesses. The federal law, which prohibits discrimination by employers against people with disabilities, considers AIDS a disability.
“Across the country, people are going to find out that these types of caps are illegal under the Americans With Disabilities Act,” Dixon said. “It also means that employers will be on notice that they cannot cap specific diseases.”
“It’s the first in the country, and we’re so proud,” said Dixon, who tracks AIDS lawsuits nationally.
The AIDS patient, Mark Kadinger, was a member of Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers when he died on Nov. 20 at age 34.
Until the anti-discrimination act was implemented last July 26, employers with self-insured health plans could legally place cap on AIDS benefits because federal rules exempted them from state regulation. The IBEW health plan fell under that exemption.
But the new act will require the court to determine whether capping health benefits constitutes discrimination, said Keith Helleland, a Minneapolis lawyer who is representing the university’s hospital and clinic and Kadinger’s estate.
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Helleland said medical care for AIDS patients averages $50,000 to $100,000, while bone-marrow transplants cost more than $100,000 and care for heart attack patients averages about $65,000.
Given those numbers, the only reason to cap benefits to AIDS patients is discrimination, he said.
“It’s interesting that it’s a union” health plan, Helleland said. “Typically, unions help workers. It gets into the whole issue of stigma, and there really is a stigma attached to AIDS.”
A spokeswoman for Local 110 said the union was not commenting on the lawsuit. Attorneys for the union could not be reached for comment.
Kadinger moved to St. Paul from the Jackson, Minn., area and was employed at Collins Electric in St. Paul. He also worked part-time at the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center.
When he first was diagnosed with AIDS, Kadinger thought that he had full health coverage. But when he checked, he discovered that he wasn’t fully covered. “It was quite a shock,” Helleland said.
Kadinger was treated at the university by Dr. Frank Rhame, an internationally known AIDS expert. Kadinger’s medical bill exceeded the $50,000 limit for AIDS coverage six months before his death.
“He was probably more upset about this than most people would be,” Rhame said. “He was a very methodical guy who liked his affairs in order; he was a very ordered person.”
For a time, Kadinger didn’t realize that the Medical Assistance program would pay his medical bills. “That period of uncertainty really took a lot out of him,” Rhame said.
However, Medical Assistance doesn’t begin paying medical bills until a patient’s assets are nearly wiped out. “You wind up with $43 a month to spend on yourself,” Rhame said. “He didn’t deserve that, but there’s no way to fix that part of it now.”
Shortly before he died, Kadinger told Dixon that he didn’t have the energy to actively pursue a lawsuit but didn’t want to have anyone else go through what he went through. “He told me, `When I die, sue the union,’ ” Dixon said.