Health insurers fined

California's top health insurers are being fined nearly $5 million after an 18-month state audit uncovered improperly paid claims to thousands of doctors and hospitals, an official announced Monday. C.J. Lin in the Daily News

The state's seven biggest health insurance companies will also need to pay restitution - estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars - after the audit found that they underpaid care providers or failed to pay them on time, according to the state Department of Managed Health Care.

"Providers are struggling to stay afloat in a very difficult business environment," department Director Cindy Ehnes said Monday during a morning news conference at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. "Improper payment of provider claims runs the risk that our health care delivery system could grind to a halt."