The Shane Group, Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Case No. 2:10-cv-14360

If You Paid For Medical Services at a Michigan Hospital from January 1, 2006 to June 23, 2014, You May be Eligible for Payment.

Welcome to the official website for the Shane Group v. BCBSM Settlement.


UPDATE: Class Counsel filed a motion with the Court to approve the distribution of the Net Settlement Fund to eligible claimants and the Court approved that motion on November 29, 2023. The Order became final on December 29, 2023, and preparations for distribution began. Distribution checks will be issued on or about January 31, 2024.

Your check stub will note the total Relevant Purchases upon which your payment was based. Please remember, Relevant Purchases are only the amounts you claimed that you directly paid to one or more Michigan General Acute Care Hospitals from January 1, 2006 through June 23, 2014. For individuals, payments made on your behalf by an employer health plan or insurance carrier were not eligible to be included in your individual claim as those entities were also allowed to make claims.

Relevant Purchases and award amount(s) were broken into Category 1, Category 2, and Category 3 based on the Court-approved Plan of Allocation. Relevant Purchases exclude any transactions for which you received a defect notice that were not cured. If the amount of Relevant Purchases noted on your check stub exceeds the amount of purchases you claimed, this is due to the terms in the second Claim Form granting a $50 minimum purchase amount for outpatient care and a $414 minimum for inpatient care.

Plan of Allocation Exhibits 1 and 2, which identify the insurer-date-hospital combinations in Category 1 and the date-hospital combinations in Category 2, are available here. The date and Michigan General Acute Care Hospital combinations not identified in Exhibit 1 or Exhibit 2 fall into Category 3.

Claim Calculations

It should be noted that a large volume of claims were received in this matter. The following breakdowns for each Category of claims established by the Plan of Allocation are provided to help Class members understand how their claim was calculated and compares to the rest of the Class.

Category 1 Claims:

All Relevant Purchases for Category 1 totaled $564,323,432.42. Based on the Court-approved Plan of Allocation, the total settlement funds available for distribution to Category 1 claimants was $9,952,393.71. For claimants whose pro rata share of Category 1 settlement funds would have been less than the Plan of Allocation’s $25.00 minimum distribution, their payment was bumped up to $25.00. The amount of Category 1 Relevant Purchases necessary to generate a Category 1 award above $25.00 was $1,431.07. For those whose Category 1 Relevant Purchases exceeded $1,431.07, their payment was approximately 1.749% of their Category 1 Relevant Purchases.

Category 2 Claims:

All Relevant Purchases for Category 2 totaled $2,744,202,260.07. Based on the Court-approved Plan of Allocation, the total settlement funds available for distribution to Category 2 claimants was $2,551,895.82. For claimants whose pro rata share of Category 2 settlement funds would have been less than Plan of Allocation’s $15.00 minimum distribution, their payment was bumped up to $15.00. The amount of Category 2 Relevant Purchases necessary to generate a Category 2 award above $15.00 was $18,529.81. For those whose Category 2 Relevant Purchases exceeded $18,529.81, their payment was approximately 0.0814% of their Category 2 Relevant Purchases.

Category 3:

All Relevant Purchases for Category 3 totaled $14,981,972,367.17. Based on the Court-approved Plan of Allocation the total settlement funds available for distribution to Category 3 claimants was $255,189.58. Category 3 differed from Category 1 and Category 2 in that there was no minimum payment, but rather a minimum pro rata payment for the payment to be distributed to the claimant rather than donated to a charity. With one exception, each Category 3 payment of less than $10 was donated to Free Clinics of Michigan, as the cost of issuing a check for less than $10 would have far exceeded the amount being distributed. The exception is that all Category 3 claimants who also were receiving a Category 1 and/or Category 2 payment were mailed a check that included their Category 3 payment regardless of its size. Category 3 settlement funds were approximately 0.0015% of total Category 3 Relevant Purchases. To yield a Category 3 award of $10 or more, a claimant’s Category 3 Relevant Purchases had to total $605,629.42 or more. The total donation to Free Clinics of Michigan was $1,839.14.


There is a Settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (“BCBSM”) concerning its contracts with general acute care hospitals in Michigan. Your legal rights are affected whether you act or do not act. You do not need to be a BCBSM customer to be eligible for the Settlement.

The lawsuit alleges that BCBSM had clauses in its contracts with some Michigan General Acute Care Hospitals that violated federal and state antitrust laws and inflated prices for medical care at certain Michigan hospitals. BCBSM denies all wrongdoing and liability but has concluded that it is in its best interests to settle the litigation to avoid the expense, inconvenience, and interference with ongoing business operations.

The Court approved a very similar settlement in 2014, but the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected that approval and instructed the Court to start the settlement approval process over because some court records had been improperly sealed and address certain other issues raised by the Sixth Circuit. The Court has unsealed those records, and the public can review them on the Documents page of this website.

The parties have slightly changed their earlier settlement agreement and seek approval of the new Settlement. Under the new Settlement, BCBSM will pay a total of $29,990,000 into a Settlement Fund that will be used to make payments to individuals and entities that paid Michigan General Acute Care Hospitals for healthcare services from January 1, 2006 to June 23, 2014 and to pay attorneys’ fees, expenses and plaintiff incentive awards, subject to Court approval.

You may review the Frequently Asked Questions and the Detailed Notice for more details on who is eligible for benefits under this Settlement and what steps members of the Settlement Class need to take to receive benefits under this Settlement.

This website will be updated periodically with new developments in the Settlement.


Class Members’ Legal Rights and Options
Submit a Claim Form The only way to receive a cash payment from the Settlement. If you submitted a claim for the earlier settlement, your claim will be processed for the new Settlement, and you do not need to submit another claim. All Claims must be submitted online or postmarked by January 29, 2021.
Exclude Yourself Receive no benefits from the Settlement, but keep your rights to start or remain part of any other lawsuit against BCBSM about its conduct challenged in this case or related conduct. If you submitted a request to exclude yourself from the earlier settlement, that request has no effect for the new Settlement. If you wish to exclude yourself from the new Settlement, you must submit a new request by September 16, 2018.
Object Submit a written statement to the Court about why you don’t like the Settlement. If you objected to the earlier settlement, that objection will not be considered for the new Settlement. If you wish to object to the new Settlement, you must file a new by September 16, 2018.
Attend Fairness Hearing Ask to speak in Court about the fairness of the Settlement. The Court will review the Settlement on November 8, 2018. If you would like to attend you must submit your request by September 16, 2018.
Do Nothing You will receive no payment from the new Settlement and will give up your rights to start or remain part of any lawsuit against BCBSM about its conduct challenged in this case or related conduct.