U.S. seeks to close Blue Cross antitrust case in MT

U.S. Justice Department attorneys filed their request Monday asking U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull to sign the final judgment in the case against Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Montana "as soon as possible." The order by Cebull would end the lawsuit that accused Blue Cross, the state's largest insurer, of anticompetitive practices in its $26.3 million buyout of New West Health Services' approximately 11,000 hospital employee policyholders. Blue Cross had proposed paying that amount to five of the six hospitals that own New West if they switch their employees' insurance.