Anthem Agrees to Pay $594M to Settle Antitrust Litigation
“Even for a company as big as Anthem Inc., the nation’s largest marketer of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance, paying a half-billion-dollar settlement might seem like a painful way to resolve litigation,” reports Greg Andrews and Indianapolis Business Journal Staff in The Indiana Lawyer.
“But some investment analysts and health care observers say changes to Blue Cross Blue Shield rules that are stipulated in the settlement are so favorable to Indianapolis-based Anthem’s growth prospects that they view the deal as a huge win for the company.”
“The settlement, struck last fall and awaiting final approval in an Alabama federal court, resolves lawsuits filed in 2012 by insurance customers alleging the Chicago-based Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and the nation’s 36 Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurers violated antitrust laws through practices that limited competition and caused higher prices. The total settlement is $2.7 billion, with Anthem shouldering $594 million.”
