Blue Cross Tribal Health Plan Reimbursement Suit Moves Forward

A long-running dispute over Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s handling of an American Indian tribe health plan will continue after a US judge declined to find the insurer deliberately failed to meet its discovery obligations and grant judgment for the tribe.

The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan failed to show that Blue Cross’ purported failure to provide claims data was motivated by bad faith, willfulness, or fault, Judge Thomas L. Ludington of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan said in a Dec. 1 opinion. The tribe has enough information to assess the value ...