Another so-called “ghost network” class-action lawsuit was filed last week, this one in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California against Blue Shield of California and Magellan Health. “Ghost networks” typically refer to directories of doctors and therapists who supposedly accept health insurance but in reality are out of network, don’t accept new patients or simply do not exist.
In the complaint, filed by legal firms Pollock Cohen LLP and Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP, multiple plaintiffs across California detail their own (or their child’s) struggle to find accessible care. Their experiences include spending countless hours calling dozens of doctors listed in the directories provided by Blue Shield and Magellan.
Contrary to the defendants’ claims that these were in-network providers, Pollock Cohen alleges that “an astounding number” of those listed either did not exist, didn’t accept the insurance, or wouldn’t accept new patients for months — if at all. As a result, and often after months and sometimes years of searching, the plaintiffs either paid thousands of dollars for out-of-network care or abandoned their search for care entirely.
The complaint also alleges that the inaccurate listings violate the No Surprises Act, which protects consumers from unexpected medical bills, particularly from out-of-network providers, as well as several other federal and state laws.
This is the fifth ghost network lawsuit filed by Pollock Cohen and Walden Macht, dating back to 2024, and it arrives on the heels of other ghost network cases. In October, lawyers sued Elevance Health on behalf of Anthem federal employee health plan members in New York who tried unsuccessfully to use plan directories to find mental health providers. Earlier that month, Cigna agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle a lawsuit in Illinois claiming the insurer misled members with lists of in-network providers that were unreachable, out-of-network or non-existent.
“When insurers publish networks they know are inaccurate, it’s not just an inconvenience to these families, it’s a denial of care,” Steve Pollock of Pollock Cohen, one of the lead attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the Blue Shield/Magellan case, said in a statement.
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