Aug (Reuters) – Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and its Michigan affiliate have asked a U.S. judge to dismiss a lawsuit from Ford Motor (F.N) accusing them of a conspiracy that artificially inflated how much the automaker was paying for insurance premiums and other commercial health insurance services.
In a pair of filings, the Blue Cross defendants on Thursday argued Ford had not shown that the insurers blocked any competing company from selling insurance products.
The insurers also alleged that Ford’s claims, filed in May in Detroit federal court, were either entirely or mostly outside of legal time frame for antitrust lawsuits.
Michigan’s Blue Cross Blue Shield said in its filing that it “has been operating openly — in full view of Ford — for years and invested billions of dollars building the Blue brand in Michigan. If Ford had a claim to bring, it should have brought it long ago.”
Ford’s lawsuit is an offshoot of a multibillion-dollar antitrust case against Blue Cross that has been litigated since 2012. Ford was among other major U.S. companies that opted out of a $2.7 billion dollar settlement in 2020 in Alabama federal court.
The settlement is under review in a U.S. appeals court. A separate class action from healthcare providers is ongoing.
A Ford spokesperson on Friday declined to comment.
