10 key updates:
1. The BCBS Association, along with the 33 independent BCBS companies, agreed to pay $2.8 billion to settle antitrust claims from healthcare providers, and make major internal process reforms, marking the largest settlement of its kind in the healthcare industry.
2. BCBS Kansas City and Premera Blue Cross exited the Medicare Advantage market for 2025, citing increasing regulatory requirements and financial headwinds.
3. BCBS Michigan will no longer cover GLP-1 drugs to treat obesity beginning in 2025 for its fully insured, large group commercial plans, citing concerns over safety, effectiveness and cost.
4. BCBS Tennessee was ordered by a federal jury to pay a former employee nearly $700,000 after she was terminated for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in 2021.
5. Anthem Blue Cross of California is creating neighborhood centers for care through a partnership with Astrana Health. The insurer’s president detailed the new initiative here.
6. Blue Shield of California is partnering with Salesforce on a new platform solution that aims to make prior authorization simpler and faster.
7. BCBS Vermont says its claims costs have increased significantly this year, leaving the company in a “fragile financial state” and creating the need for premium hikes.
8. BCBS Minnesota must face a lawsuit from the U.S. Labor Department accusing the payer of incorrectly imposing a state provider tax on self-funded health plan customers and violating its fiduciary duties under ERISA.
9. BCBS Louisiana says a sale is “completely off the table” after plans to be acquired by Elevance Health were tabled earlier this year.
10. Regence BlueShield of Idaho will remain as the state’s health plan administrator after a state judge dismissed a lawsuit from Blue Cross of Idaho that looked to invalidate the new contract.
