Oscar Health sues Florida Blue Cross Blue Shield in broker scheme

Modern Healthcare: Insurance startup Oscar Health is suing Florida's Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliate for allegedly prohibiting insurance brokers who sell Florida Blue individual plans from selling competing insurers' coverage—a tactic Oscar said undermines the Affordable Care Act exchanges and harms consumer choice.

New York-based Oscar is offering exchange plans in the Orlando metro area for the first time in 2019. When Florida Blue learned of Oscar's lower-priced plans, it implemented the policy "targeted at Oscar to keep it out of the state, thereby causing Florida consumers to continue to pay more for health insurance coverage," Oscar alleged in the lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Orlando.

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