Bridges v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Ass'n

935 F. Supp. 37, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11437, 1996 WL 453048
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedAugust 2, 1996
DocketCivil Action 94-2161 SSH
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 935 F. Supp. 37 (Bridges v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bridges v. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Ass'n, 935 F. Supp. 37, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11437, 1996 WL 453048 (D.D.C. 1996).

Opinion

OPINION

STANLEY S. HARRIS, District Judge.

Before the Court are the following motions, oppositions, and replies: defendant Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association’s (hereinafter “BCBSA”) motion to dismiss Counts I, II, III, IV, and V of plaintiffs’ second amended complaint; defendant Office of Personnel Management’s (hereinafter “OPM”) motion to dismiss Counts III, IV, V, and VI of plaintiffs’ second amended complaint; plaintiffs’ combined opposition to defendants’ motions to dismiss; BCBSA’s reply; and the OPM’s reply. Upon careful consideration of the entire record, the Court grants defendant BCBSA’s motion to dismiss Counts I through V of the complaint, allowing leave for BCBSA to move to intervene as a party defendant as to Count VI of the *39 complaint if the Court later deems it to be necessary. The Court likewise grants defendant OPM’s motion to dismiss Counts III, IV, and V of plaintiffs’ complaint, but denies the OPM’s motion to dismiss Count VI. The Court will, however, stay the case until the OPM has taken final action with regard to the physician-provider coinsurance issues currently under discussion at the agency.

I. Background

The background of this case has been set out to some extent in the Court’s unpublished January 24, 1995, Opinion granting BCBSA’s motion to defer consideration of plaintiffs’ class allegations, and the published February 1995 Opinion granting BCBSA’s motion for joinder of the OPM as a party defendant. 889 F.Supp. 502 (D.D.C.1995). For the sake of clarity, however, the Court briefly recapitulates the background of this action and its current posture.

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Act (hereinafter “FEHBA”), 5 U.S.C. § 8901 et seq. (1994), authorizes the OPM to procure and administer health benefits plans for federal workers by contracting with private health insurance carriers. In addition to procuring contracts with insurance carriers, 5 U.S.C. § 8902, the OPM selects the benefits provided by the carriers under the federal employee plans, 5 U.S.C. § 8902(d), fixes premium rates, 5 U.S.C. §§ 8902(i), 8906, distributes information on the available health plans to federal employees, 5 U.S.C. § 8907, and makes determinations on claim disputes when they arise, 5 U.S.C. § 8902(j).

In “approximately 1960,” according to plaintiffs, the OPM and BCBSA entered into a contract, renewable yearly, for a Service Benefit Plan (the “Plan”) to provide insurance to federal employees who chose to enroll in the Plan. BCBSA represents a nationwide network of Blue Cross/Blue Shield entities; sixty-seven of those entities subcontract with and are licensed by BCBSA to provide health benefits to federal employees pursuant to the Plan. Employees who enroll in the Plan (or “enrollees”) obtain physician and hospital services from BCBSA’s member providers and facilities. Plaintiffs are current or retired federal employees who are enrolled with BCBSA’s Plan.

Enrollees in the Plan are obligated to pay coinsurance on each medical claim, which, until the latest Plan year, was a certain percentage (usually 20 or 25%) of the health care provider or facility’s charges. 1 BCBSA’s licensee entities are obligated to the provider or facility for the remainder of the claim. In plaintiffs’ second amended complaint, filed on October 27,1995, plaintiffs allege that BCBSA’s licensee entities, with BCBSA’s “knowledge and approval,” secretly negotiated discounts on the cost of services of member facilities and physicians, and then failed to apply those discounts to the enroll-ees’ coinsurance payments. 2 Plaintiffs further allege in their complaint that BCBSA sent Explanations of Benefits (“EOB’s”) to enrollees which cloaked the existence of the discounts. Thus, as plaintiffs put it, “while [Plan enrollees] believe they are paying a copayment percentage ... based on the same billed amount as are the BCBSA subcontractor-licensees, this is not the case.” Pis.’ Second Am.Compl. at 3.

Following this Court’s Order of February 28, 1995, which required plaintiffs to join the OPM as a defendant, plaintiffs filed the second amended complaint. It contains six *40 counts. 3 Counts I and II allege that BCBSA committed two separate violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”), 18 U.S.C. § 1961 et seq. Count I alleges that BCBSA violated or conspired to violate RICO § 1962(a), which criminalizes the use or investment of racketeering income in an enterprise. Count II alleges that BCBSA violated or conspired to violate § 1962(c) of the statute, which criminalizes an entity’s participation in a racketeering enterprise.

Count III of plaintiffs’ second amended complaint states a breach of contract claim (styled as a claim for “enforcement of contract”) against both the OPM and BCBSA, and Count IV states a claim for breach of fiduciary duty, likewise against both defendants. Count V states a separate claim against both defendants for a declaratory judgment determining their rights under the Plan. Count VI is captioned as a claim for “breach of statutory duties,” and plaintiffs bring this claim against the OPM only.

II. Discussion

Plaintiffs’ factual allegations must be presumed true and liberally construed in their favor when reviewing the adequacy of a complaint for purposes of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. Phillips v. Bureau of Prisons, 591 F.2d 966, 968 (D.C.Cir.1979) (citing Miree v. DeKalb County, Georgia, 433 U.S. 25, 27 n. 2, 97 S.Ct. 2490, 2492 n. 2, 53 L.Ed.2d 557 (1977)). In addition, plaintiffs must be given every favorable inference that may be drawn from their allegations of fact. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974). “However, the court need not accept inferences drawn by plaintiffs if such inferences are unsupported by the facts set out in the complaint. Nor must the court accept legal conclusions cast in the form of factual allegations.” Kowal v. MCI Communications Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C.Cir.1994); see also Haynesworth v. Miller,

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Bluebook (online)
935 F. Supp. 37, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11437, 1996 WL 453048, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bridges-v-blue-cross-and-blue-shield-assn-dcd-1996.