Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has reached a settlement in a class action antitrust lawsuit.
Many companies and/or their employees have or will receive either mailers or emails concerning the settlement. The total settlement is $2.67 billion, which will certainly catch anyone’s attention.
The class action lawsuit charged that the 36 independent and locally operated BCBS companies in the US had violated antitrust laws by entering into an agreement with each other to limit competition amongst themselves in selling health insurance and administrative services for health insurance. The BCBS companies have denied any wrongdoing.
Note that there are 36 BCBS companies nationwide and that the BCBS companies provide health insurance to 1 in 3 Americans across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. BCBS NC is just one of the 36 companies. Of the $2.67 billion, it is expected that $667.5 million will be applied toward legal expenses and $100 million toward Administrative Costs. The expected Net Settlement Fund will be $1.9 billion. Affected persons and companies (plan sponsors) are;
- Individuals and fully insured groups (and their covered employees) with coverage (at any time) from February 7, 2008 through October 16, 2020 (12.5 years),
- Self-funded groups and their employees with coverage (at any time) from September 1, 2015 through October 16, 2020 (5 years).
The court must still approve the Settlement but is expected to do so.
Please download from below the Long Form for action items and deadlines between today and November 2021. You may also download the full Settlement Agreement for review. Visit www.BCBSsettlement.com for more information and to file a claim.
Downloads:
Settlement Agreement (1.9mb)
BCBS Long Form (295kb)