What is the blue cross blue shield settlement

Anthem, the largest of the Blue owners, has estimated its share of the settlement at $594 million in total.Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News

Updated Aug. 9, 2022 4:15 pm ET

A federal judge approved Blue Cross Blue Shield companies’ settlement of a sweeping antitrust suit filed on behalf of their customers, with the insurers agreeing to pay $2.67 billion and change certain practices that allegedly limited competition.

The approval on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor, whose Alabama court handled the litigation, means the settlement is set to start going into effect after 30 days.

CHICAGO – October 30, 2020 – Today, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies reached an agreement to settle a legal dispute challenging elements of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association licensing agreements. We reject claims plaintiffs made in the lawsuit. However, to reach a settlement, we’ve agreed to make some operational changes and provide payment to members of the class involved in the case. Settling now is the right action at the right time because it allows us to remain focused on the goal we’ve had for more than 90 years: improving access to quality healthcare for all Americans and the health of our local communities.

Regardless of today’s settlement, Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies remain strong, and the exceptional services and capabilities they provide will continue. We will continue to lead the industry with healthcare solutions designed to improve the health of our members.

For information on the class notice, visit www.bcbssettlement.com.

About Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a national federation of 34 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies that collectively provide health care coverage for one in three Americans.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is an association of 35 independent, locally operated Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield companies.

Companies
Law firms

(Reuters) - Boies Schiller Flexner, Hausfeld and other law firms may have to wait a while longer to collect a $667 million fee award for their work leading to a $2.67 billion antitrust settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield.

A handful of class members and companies on Friday filed appeals challenging an Alabama federal judge's August approval of the settlement and fees. Until those appeals are resolved, neither class members nor their attorneys will see any money flow from the settlement, a Boies Schiller spokesperson acknowledged Tuesday.

Michael Hausfeld of the Hausfeld firm did not respond to a request for comment.

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The filings from Topographic Inc and Employee Services Inc, New Hampshire resident David Behenna, and Kentucky residents Jennifer Cochran and Aaron Craker did not say why they opposed either the settlement or the attorney payout.

The Home Depot Inc has also filed an appeal to the BCBS settlement, but because the company opted out of the damages class, it is not challenging the $2.7 billion amount or the $667 million fee and costs award for attorneys.

Home Depot has objected that the settlement could bar the company from bringing future antitrust claims against Blue Cross Blue Shield. The deal resolves allegations that the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and its licensed members violated federal antitrust laws by dividing up health insurance markets to avoid competing with each other.

Behenna, who is representing himself, declined to comment further. During a series of hearings on the BCBS settlement in October 2021, he said he disagreed with how the attorney fees were calculated.

Cochran and Craker did not respond to requests for comment on reasons for their appeals, nor did the attorneys representing Topographic and Employee Services.

It is unclear how the $667 million will be split among the law firms if the fee award survives the appeal. Even a quarter of that amount would be a major windfall for Boies Schiller, which has suffered significant partner departures since 2020 and saw its revenue fall below $250 million last year for the first time since 2006, according to data from The American Lawyer.

The litigation firm has been pressing the antitrust case against BCBS for a decade.

According to federal judiciary data, the median time it takes for the federal circuits to resolve appeals following a filing notice is 10.4 months.

But challenges to attorney fees can take longer. It has been 11 months since a group of U.S. health insurers asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to scrap a $185 million legal fee award to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan for its work in securing $3.7 billion for class members in Obamacare litigation. The case is still pending.

Since 2018, plaintiffs' firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro has seen its fee awards stemming from an antitrust fight over optical disk drives voided twice by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Last month, a California federal judge awarded the firm $26.6 million in legal fees.

Attorneys and other representatives for Blue Cross Blue Shield did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Boies, Hausfeld among law firms reaping $667 mln windfall in Blue Cross antitrust case

Disk-drive antitrust saga over fees ends with $27 mln award

Health insurers balk at Quinn Emanuel's 'astronomical' $185 million fee award

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David Thomas

Thomson Reuters

David Thomas reports on the business of law, including law firm strategy, hiring, mergers and litigation. He is based out of Chicago. He can be reached at and on Twitter @DaveThomas5150.