BIRMINGHAM, AL – Today a monumental settlement was announced by Whatley Kallas, LLP, Co-Lead Counsel, in a long-running antitrust lawsuit filed on behalf of healthcare providers across the nation. The settlement with all the Blue Cross and Blue Shield entities in the country, as well as the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, provides billions of dollars for healthcare providers and is the largest antitrust settlement in the history of the United States healthcare industry. The settlement includes a $2.8 billion cash payment into a settlement fund, as well as investments by the Blues of hundreds of millions of dollars in system improvements for the benefit of providers. Provider Plaintiffs have asked the court to preliminarily approve the settlement, which would resolve their claims that the Blues violated the antitrust laws by, among other things, agreeing to allocate markets through the use of exclusive service areas and to fix the prices paid to providers through the BlueCard Program.