Hospitals and healthcare systems that opted out of a $2.8 billion Blue Cross Blue Shield antitrust settlement have filed new Sherman Act lawsuits in multiple federal courts, alleging the insurers colluded to restrict competition and increase profits.
Law360 (March 5, 2025, 8:46 PM EST) -- Dozens of hospitals and healthcare systems that opted out of a landmark $2.8 billion Blue Cross Blue Shield antitrust settlement filed fresh Sherman Act lawsuits against the insurance entities in Pennsylvania, California and Illinois federal courts Tuesday, accusing them of colluding to restrict competition for the purchase of healthcare services.
The new antitrust lawsuits were filed in multiple district courts. They generally accuse Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Anthem and dozens of local and regional BCBS affiliates of fixing healthcare service purchase prices in violation of the Sherman Act. Some of the suits also seek damages under multiple provisions of the Clayton Act and assert various state claims.
A BCBS Association representative declined to comment on Wednesday. Representatives for Anthem and counsel for the plaintiffs didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
The wave of antitrust litigation was filed on the same day that a nationwide class of roughly 6,000 hospitals and other providers were required to indicate whether they plan to opt out of BCBS's $2.8 billion antitrust settlement in multidistrict litigation pending in Alabama federal court.
The Blue Cross antitrust litigation was initially filed in 2012, accusing the BCBS Association and its 33 independent member insurers of illegally carving up the country into exclusive geographical blocs to stifle competition and drive up profits. That arrangement allegedly came at the expense of both subscribers to those health insurance plans and the healthcare providers paid by them.
Commercial and individual subscribers struck a $2.7 billion deal with Blue Cross in 2020, which was held up on appeal until last year, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge by Home Depot. Providers, meanwhile, continued to litigate until a separate $2.8 billion settlement was reached in October. That deal received preliminary approval in December from U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor.
Taken together, the two deals make up one of the largest-ever settlements in an antitrust case, according to Whatley Kallas LLP, lead counsel in the years-long class action. Nevertheless, at least some hospitals opted out of the deal and chose to file their own lawsuits, betting that they'll obtain larger paydays through individual litigation.
In the new litigation, plaintiff hospitals, physician-owned healthcare systems and other healthcare providers ask the courts to hold the insurance companies jointly and severally liable for the alleged violations and to award them in some cases treble damages, plus pre-judgment interest, costs and attorneys' fees.
The suits generally argue that any statutes of limitations on their antitrust claims have been tolled by the pendency of one or more class action complaints, including the cases pending in the MDL.
Last week, Judge Proctor, the Alabama federal judge presiding over the MDL, disqualified Polsinelli PC from representing hospitals that opt out of the $2.8 billion settlement in light of the fact that a four-lawyer team from Maynard Nexsen PC, which represented BCBS Alabama for years in the multidistrict litigation alongside Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and other firms, left and joined Polsinelli last year.
The Pennsylvania litigation healthcare plaintiffs are represented by Sean S. Zabaneh, Sean P. McConnell, Sarah O'Laughlin Kulik, Rebecca Bazan and Jessica Priselac of Duane Morris LLP and Jon Corey, John Briody James Smith and Lew LeClair of McKool Smith.
Healthcare plaintiffs who have filed three separate lawsuits in Illinois are represented by Daniel L. Warshaw, Bobby Pouya and Michael H. Pearson of Pearson Warshaw LLP.
The healthcare plaintiffs who sued in California are represented by Michael J. Stortz, Michael E. Martínez, Lauren Norris Donahue, Allen R. Bachman, Derek W. Kelley and Stacey A. Hyman of K&L Gates LLP and Richard Fields, Martin Cunniff and Edward Han of Fields Han & Cunniff PLLC. Read more.