Anthem Blue Cross has been sued for allegedly using its widely publicized rate hikes to attempt to force customers into lower benefit and higher deductible plans.

Many of the individual policyholders who recently learned their premiums would jump by as much as 39 percent were informed several months ago that Anthem Blue Cross was closing their plan to new customers, The firm then offered them plans with greatly reduced benefits, the class-action lawsuit says.

Many of the healthy patients have options and can switch. Older patients and those with pre-existing conditions cannot change to a comparable or better policy, so they are essentially trapped in their existing coverage and forced to pay ever-increasing premiums until they can no longer afford it, the lawsuit argues.

These customers are then forced to accept greatly inferior coverage or to drop it altogether.

The lawsuit by Consumer Watchdog asserts that this violates a state law requiring health insurers that close a policy to offer consumers comparable coverage or to minimize premium increases in their existing plans.

- from news reports

If you purchased an Anthem Blue Cross policy, and were forced to pay more for your insurance due to rate hikes,  please call our law firm toll free at 800.965.1461.  You may also contact us via email using the simple form on the right side of this page.