
The Blue Cross Blue and Blue Shield Association (BCBS) and the health plan subscribers who brought an antitrust challenge to its business model got preliminary approval from a federal judge in Alabama for a US$2.67 billion settlement, reported Bloomberg Law.
Judge R. David Proctor gave his tentative blessing to the agreement, which would resolve the subscribers’ claims in the US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama. The suit accuses dozens of independent insurers affiliated with BCBS of illegally carving up the US health insurance market into regional “service areas” to avoid having to compete with one another.
The case had been brought on behalf of more than 1 million individual and corporate policyholders, whose policies covered tens of millions of Americans.
They alleged that the member companies violated the Sherman Act and other antitrust laws by, among other things, dividing up health insurance markets to avoid competing with each other.
Blue Cross Blue Shield stated its member companies cover more than 109 million Americans, or roughly one-third of the US population, including at major employers such as General Motors, Microsoft, and Walmart.
Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.
Featured News
OpenAI Board Denies Receiving Formal Bid from Elon Musk
Feb 12, 2025 by
CPI
Thomas Kauper, Former DOJ Antitrust Leader, Dies at 89
Feb 12, 2025 by
CPI
BlackRock’s Acquisition of Preqin Secures UK Regulatory Approval
Feb 12, 2025 by
CPI
NFL Sued Over Bluesky Ban by Fans Citing Antitrust Violations
Feb 12, 2025 by
CPI
Warburg Pincus Strikes $1 Billion Deal to Acquire Vermont Information Processing
Feb 12, 2025 by
CPI
Antitrust Mix by CPI
Antitrust Chronicle® – International Criminal Enforcement
Jan 23, 2025 by
CPI
The Antitrust Division’s Recent Work to Combat International Cartels
Jan 23, 2025 by
Emma Burnham & Benjamin Christenson
Information Sharing: The New Frontier of U.S. Antitrust Enforcement
Jan 23, 2025 by
Brian P. Quinn, Casey Kovarik & Michael Tubach
The Key Role of Guidelines on Exchanges of Information Among Competitors and the Divergent Transatlantic Paths
Jan 23, 2025 by
Rosa Abrantes-Metz & Albert Metz
Leniency, Whistleblowers, and Compliance
Jan 23, 2025 by
Richard Powers, Tara O’Malley & Cory Gordon