Bay Area Health Industry May Owe You Money. How To Collect On A $228.5M Settlement

SACRAMENTO, CA — Hundreds of thousands of current or former Bay Area residents may be eligible for money from a $228.5 million antitrust class action lawsuit involving a major hospital system and five top insurance companies.

In a class-action lawsuit settled in April, the Sacramento-based hospital system Sutter Health was accused of including unfair terms in contracts with five major insurance companies that resulted in higher premiums for customers. A joint statement from the plaintiffs and Sutter Health stated that the settlement is no admission of liability:

“The parties agree this settlement is what’s best for the parties, for patients and for the class, and the prospect of additional litigation is not in anyone’s interest. There is no admission of liability, and the settlement is subject to court approval.”

Hearings will be conducted before a court gives final approval to the settlement on Nov. 6, according to KTVU.

You may be eligible to collect settlement money if you paid premiums to any of the following insurance plans in the following Bay Area counties between Jan. 1, 2011 and March 8, 2021.

Claims must be filed here before Sept. 12.

Insurance companies:

• Aetna
• Anthem Blue Cross
• Blue Shield of California
• Health Net
• United Healthcare

Counties:

• Alameda
• Contra Costa
• San Mateo
• Sonoma
• Marin
• San Francisco
• Napa
• Solano

To be eligible, applicants must have either lived or worked in one of these counties, or had an office located in one of the counties.

See here for more information, including additional eligible NorCal counties.