Hospital gets $421m ‘landmark’ verdict after insurer found to underpay claims

Legal wrangling remains as Blue Cross Blue Shield pledges to seek reduction, if not elimination, of jury award

The movement to hold US medical insurers to account scored a notable legal victory recently when a Louisiana civil court jury ordered the state's most prominent health insurance company to pay up more than $400m after underpaying claims to a surgery center that often works with cancer patients.

But the insurer - Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Louisiana - has vowed to seek to reduce, if not entirely eliminate, the jury's award to the St Charles Surgical Hospital and Center for Restorative Breast Surgery on appeal. BCBS can ask both the state's fourth circuit court of appeal as well as the Louisiana supreme court for relief.