Insurance carriers are often showing great concern that clients will engage in improper practices to claim a paycheck, but perhaps it is the clients who need to be weary of their insurance carriers committing improper practices at their cost.
Blue Cross Blue Shield, an enterprise that houses multiple insurance companies, appears to have finally reached a settlement agreement with plaintiffs regarding a class action lawsuit that has spanned over ten years already. A settlement agreement of $2.67 billion was reached almost three years ago and it seems that 6 million class members will finally be able to receive their compensation.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is something of a national parent company to a variety of health insurance providers — all of whom are locally-operated and independent. Each subsequent insurer under the BC/BS label is localized to its own territory. Highmark, for example, provides its services to clients in the Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware areas, as well as in parts of Ohio and New York state.
Blue Cross Blue Shield decade long class action lawsuit
In 2013, Blue Cross Blue Shield was served with a class action anti-trust lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in relation to over 35 health insurance plans made by BC/BS. Two and a half years ago, a $2.67 billion settlement was reached with no set date for when notices would be sent out. According to the settlement website, “claim determination notices are being emailed on a rolling basis.”
Now, years later in 2025, the settlement payments are expected to be distributed to the approximately 6 million claimants impacted by this anti-trust lawsuit.
According to the 2013 class action lawsuit, BC/BS is accused of having “violated antitrust laws by entering into an agreement not to compete with each other and to limit competition among themselves in selling health insurance and administrative services for health insurance.”
Distribution details
The distribution of settlement payouts will finally be put into motion now that an appeal from a class member had been denied by the U.S Supreme Court. The appeal was submitted by David Behenna who felt that the $667 million that will be set aside for attorney costs and legal fees, was too big a portion of the total settlement amount.
Another reason contributing to the length to which this case has been drawn out to was a challenge to the settlement filed by attorneys representing Home Depot. According to a report made by Reuters, Home Depot attorneys claimed that “the terms were too sweeping and will harm the ability of future private parties to sue Blue Cross Blue Shield over violations of competition law.”
However, the Supreme Court had denied all appeals and challenges, thus leading to the progress of settlement distribution.
How much compensation can class action members expect to receive?
The deadline to file a claim in this lawsuit was November 2021 with approximately six million people submitting a claim. After legal fees and attorney costs, which amount to around $667 million, are deducted from the $2.67 billion agreed upon amount, claimants can expect to receive a cheque of approximately $333 per claim.
A year prior to this 2013 lawsuit, Blue Cross Blue Shield faced another costly lawsuit which also accused them of conspiring amongst themselves to not compete with each other. These plans concocted by BC/BS aimed to give them more control over the payments made to hospitals and physicians to compensate them for services rendered.
Blue Cross Blue Shield reached a settlement agreement of a hefty $2.8 billion to be paid out to the impacted providers, as well as physicians and health systems.
Claimants can only hope that the end is near with this overly drawn out case and settlement cheques for both class action suits are sent out soon.