MTA Sues Blue Cross, Opts Out of $2.7 Billion Antitrust Deal (1)

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New York’s other transportation agencies filed federal antitrust claims in Manhattan against the Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurance network, saying they had opted out of a multidistrict class action that settled for nearly $2.7 billion.

The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, targets the BCBS Association and more than three dozen affiliates, accusing them of basing their business model on an unlawful agreement to carve up the nationwide health insurance market into regional “service areas.”

The market allocation agreement “stifled or outright removed competition,” leading to inflated administrative fees for self-funded insurance plans like those ...