The Wall Street Journal reports today that the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) has reached with class plaintiffs’ counsel a tentative settlement agreement in a employer and individual consumer class action alleging anti-trust law violations among Blue Cross licensees that was filed in 2012. The settlement which includes $2.7 billion in payments and BCBSA operational changes intended to increase competition among Blue Cross licensees. The agreement is pending approval by the Blue Cross licensees and an Alabama federal court judge.
BCBSA also is facing a similar class action brought by a class of healthcare providers. The Journal report indicates that this case is headed to litigation. If you can’t access the Journal article due to its paywall (which is worth the investment in the FEHBlog’s humble opinion), Becker’s Hospital Review summarizes the settlement here.
Somewhat ironically, according to this Health Payer Intelligence report, the House of Representatives earlier this week passed a bill to repeal a law passed in 1945 that exempts health insurers from certain federal anti-competitive regulations.
The President issued an executive order today discussing his healthcare strategy and warning Congress that Health and Human Services will act to end healthcare surprise billing if Congress fails to pass its own surprise billing law by the end of the year. HHS issued a press release about the following agency actions taken today to implement the President’s strategy:
- Issued a final rule from the Food and Drug Administration to open the first-ever pathway for states to use to safely import prescription drugs to lower patients drug costs.
- Solicited private-sector proposals, as called for in the President’s July executive order, on allowing Americans to get lower-cost FDA-approved drugs and insulins from American pharmacies via importation and reimportation.
- Released the 2021 Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D Premium landscape, showing that average 2021 premiums for Medicare Advantage plans are expected to decline 34.2 percent from 2017 while plan choice, benefits, and enrollment continue to increase, and that Part D premiums will be down 12 percent from 2017, with over 1,600 drug plans offering insulin at no more than $35 per month.
- Issued a notice of proposed rulemaking from the Health Resources and Services Administration to pass on steep discounts at community health centers on insulin and epinephrine to Americans who are uninsured or have high cost-sharing, including the nearly 3 million health center patients with diabetes.
The Society for Human Resource Management compares the Presidential candidate’s health plan coverage proposals here.
Last month the FEHBlog noted that GoodRx, the prescription drug discounter, was planning an initial public offering. Fierce Healthcare reports that
GoodRx raised $1.1 billion in its initial public offering after pricing its deal well above its expected price range. The GoodRx IPO began trading Wednesday at $46 per share, 39% above its $33 per share offering price. GoodRx stock rose above $49 per share in early afternoon action, Investors.com reported. That boosted the consumer healthcare technology firm’s market cap to about $12.7 billion.