Blue Cross antitrust suit moving forward

A lawsuit alleging Blue Cross companies of conspiring in Alabama and across the country to illegally stifle competition will continue after a judge's ruling filed Wednesday.  U.S. District Judge David Proctor in Birmingham denied motions by Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans, which are independent companies across the United States, to have antitrust case thrown out.  The judge wrote addressing one of multiple arguments. "But the contentions ... make clear that plaintiffs have alleged a viable market allocation scheme. If that scheme is proven, it may subject defendants to antitrust liability."  The lawsuit, originally filed 2012 by an Alabama chiropractor and consolidated with similar suits, is being brought by Blue Cross subscribers and health care providers against about three dozen Blues, including Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama which has the largest market share in a single state of any insurer in the country.  The class action lawsuit alleges violation of federal antitrust laws through a "complete lack of meaningful competition" within markets across the United States where Blue Cross businesses sell insurance. The Blue Cross businesses, although independently run, are linked by an association with a board of directors that sets up the anti-competitive agreements, the lawsuit alleges.  Blue Cross lawyers filed the motion to dismiss the lawsuit in October, saying the defendants failed to make viable claims on a number of allegations.