A federal appeals court next week will hear a battle about whether Florida Blue, the state’s largest health insurer, violated antitrust laws by preventing agents from selling policies for a rival insurance company.
Oscar Insurance Company of Florida went to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals after a district judge sided with Florida Blue in the dispute, which is rooted in Oscar’s entrance in 2018 into the market for individual health-insurance policies in the Orlando area.
Oscar, which has been backed in the case by the US Department of Justice, contends that Florida Blue engaged in “manifestly anticompetitive conduct” by threatening to cut off independent agents who also sold Oscar policies, according to a brief filed in the Atlanta-based appeals court.
“Altogether, Florida Blue’s threats have caused hundreds of brokers to avoid working with Oscar, leaving the vast majority of Florida brokers captive to Florida Blue and denying Oscar the ability to compete,” the brief, filed last December, stated. “As a result, Florida consumers have had to pay more for health insurance.”
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