Labor Department Sues Blue Cross Minnesota Over Provider Tax (1)

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota improperly collects a state “provider tax” from the self-funded health plans it administers without having legal authorization to do so, the Labor Department said in a new lawsuit.

The company unilaterally collected more than $66 million in provider taxes from its Minnesota health plan clients between 2016 and 2020, the department said. Blue Cross’s contracts didn’t authorize this collection, and the company didn’t explicitly disclose it to the relevant health plans, the department said.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 12 in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota, centers on the ...