feAnthem Blue Cross Will Pay $8.3M To Customers To Settle Class-Action Suit Over Mid-Year Policy Changes

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When you sign up for an insurance policy, you’re given a price for that plan for the year. So when California consumers discovered changes to their Anthem Blue Cross policies in the middle of the year that came with extra out-of-pocket costs, two policyholders filed a class-action lawsuit against the insurance provider in 2011. Anthem Blue Cross has now agreed to a settlement that includes reimbursing about 50,000 customers in California almost $8.3 million.

Anthem Blue Cross agreed to stop imposing mid-year policy changes that raise costs for consumers, reports the L.A. Times.

The 2011 lawsuits accused the company — California’s largest for-profit health insurer — of hiking annual deductibles and other costs individual consumers had to cover in the middle of the year. Anthem Blue Cross isn’t admitting any wrongdoing here but agreed to the settlement to avoid “further expense.”

The insurer will mail notices to affected customers as well as post information about the settlement on a website. Checks should be on their way to California consumers by December: you’ll only receive a check if you were affected by those mid-year policy changes, but any residents enrolled in individual Anthem plans won’t be facing mid-year cost increases in the future.

Anthem Blue Cross to repay $8.3 million to customers in class-action settlement [Los Angeles Times]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist