Anthem Blue Cross CuraScript Class Action Lawsuit

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Anthem Blue Cross CuraScript Class Action Lawsuit

By Mike Holter

Anthem Blue Cross has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit alleging it discriminates against patients with certain chronic diseases by forcing them to obtain medications through a mail-order pharmacy. This subsequently drives up costs and threatens lives, according to the plaintiff.

The Anthem Blue Cross class action lawsuit was filed by an unidentified HIV-positive San Diego resident who claims Anthem is violating California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act by requiring individual plan members to purchase “specialty medicines” from a mail order pharmacy of Anthem’s choosing — CuraScript — unless they obtain a hardship waiver every six months that allows them to buy medicine at brick-and-mortar pharmacies.

The new policy goes into effect May 1, 2013 and covers more than two dozen conditions, including HIV/AIDS, cancer, hemophilia, multiple sclerosis and osteoporosis.

“As of March 1, 2013, using a retail pharmacy will be considered going ‘out-of-network’ for these seriously ill consumers who will be required to pay full price for their specialty medicines, many costing several thousand dollars each month,” the class action lawsuit says.
 
Patients will also suffer by no longer having access to the kind of face-to-face interaction with pharmacists that many of them need and that specialty pharmacies provide, the class action lawsuit says.

“By implementing such practices, Anthem Blue Cross will thus reduce the quality of prescription drug care provided to thousands of Class members by forcing enrollees to use CuraScript,” the Anthem Blue Cross class action lawsuit states.

In addition, getting medicines by mail puts HIV/AIDS patients at additional risk because a delayed or stolen shipment could seriously jeopardize care, the class action lawsuit says. Also, by being forced to receive regular deliveries of pharmaceuticals at their homes or workplaces, HIV/AIDS also will lose their “fundamental and inalienable right to privacy,” the plaintiff asserts.

According to the class action lawsuit, Anthem is switching to home delivery as part of a contract to buy drugs in bulk and cut costs.

An Anthem spokesman defended the new policy, saying research has found that patients using CuraScript have a 93 percent adherence rate to their drug regimens – nearly 10 percent higher than those using traditional drugstores.

Despite the policy covering dozens of chronic conditions, the class action lawsuit is seeking to only represent individual Anthem Blue Cross Health Plan members who require specialty medications to treat HIV/AIDS and who either already have or will be required to participate in the program starting March 1, 2013 to continue to receive coverage for such prescriptions.

The Anthem Blue Cross CuraScript Class Action Lawsuit case is John Doe v. Blue Cross of California et al., in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego.

The plaintiff is represented by Harvey Rosenfield, Pamela Pressley and Jerry Flanagan of Consumer Watchdog and Edith M. Kallas, Alan M. Mansfield and Kristin Libby of Whatley Kallas LLC.

Updated January 15th, 2013

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