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AG Schneiderman Launches Probe After United Healthcare Drops Over 2,000 Doctors

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has launched an investigation against United Healthcare, after the insurance company kicked some 2,000 doctors off their plan.

As CBS 2's Dick Brennan reported, the move came as United Healthcare was already facing lawsuits in two counties in Connecticut.

The Attorney General's office warned that when open enrollment ended Dec. 7 for Medicare Advantage, seniors will not have time to make what they call an informed choice.

"I can't sleep," said Yvonne Gilmore, a Connecticut Affordable Care Act patient. "I roll and I toss, and I think about, I'm going to lose my doctors."

Gilmore was furious that her doctor is being dropped, and she has to get a new one.

"They're making endless people suffer needlessly," Gilmore said.

The Fairfield County Medical Association in Connecticut received an injunction to stop doctors from being dropped.

"So it's 2,250 doctors have been dropped from the Medicare Advantage Plan, which amounted to 20- to 30,000 Medicare patients," Gilmore said.

Gilmore called the move unacceptable.

"You're disrupting the whole art of medicine; the whole way that doctors take care of patients in an organized fashion," she said.

United Healthcare officials have said the changes they have made to their network will encourage higher quality and more affordable Medicare coverage. The insurance company said it remains focused on serving members, and giving them a broad and comprehensive choice of doctors.

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