WSJ report: Tentative settlement reported in BCBS antitrust case

The Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance group has reached a tentative settlement in an antitrust lawsuit dating back to 2012 that alleged its member companies illegally conspired to divvy up markets and avoid competing against one another, driving up customers’ prices, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

The $2.7 billion settlement still must be approved by the boards of all 36 BCBS insurers and the federal judge in the case, and would curtail practices that allegedly limited competition among its three dozen member companies, according to the news report. 

Some of these practices were identified by AHA in its challenge to Anthem’s proposed acquisition of Cigna, which was blocked by a federal appeals court in 2017.