Welcome to the Class Action Website 

If you offered Qualified Health Plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the 2017 and/or 2018 benefit years, made cost-sharing reductions for eligible insureds pursuant to Section 1402 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and you did not receive a “timely and periodic” payment from the Government of an amount “equal to the value of the reductions” provided to your insureds, you may opt-in to join a lawsuit.

What is this Lawsuit about? 

Plaintiff Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative claims that Defendant United States has not made cost-sharing reduction reimbursements on a timely and periodic basis for the 2017 or 2018 benefit years to which it and other Qualified Health Plan "QHP" issuers such as your organization are entitled under the Affordable Care Act.  Section 1402 of the Affordable Care Act established a cost-sharing reduction program that applied to insurers who offered QHPs on the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges.  The cost-sharing reduction program provides that QHP issuers must pay a portion of eligible insureds’ out-of-pocket costs, such as deductibles, co-pays, and similar expenses, thereby reducing the amount eligible insureds must pay.  Section 1402 further states that the Secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and the Treasury “shall make periodic and timely payments to the [QHP] issuer equal to the value of the reductions.”  Beginning in 2014, the United States began making these cost-sharing reduction reimbursements, but then ceased paying them in 2017 and continues to not pay them.

The Class Action Complaint is available on the Important Documents page.

Who is a Potential Class Member? 

Under the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims, the Court has allowed the lawsuit to be a class action on behalf of the following: All persons or entities offering Qualified Health Plans under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the 2017 or 2018 benefit year, and who made cost-sharing reductions for eligible insureds pursuant to Section 1402 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but did not receive a “timely and periodic” payment from the Government of an amount “equal to the value of the reductions” provided to its insureds.  Excluded from the Class are the Defendant and its members, agencies, divisions, departments, and employees.

What are my Rights and Options? 

You will not have to pay any money out of pocket to participate in the Class. If the Class is successful in this litigation, however, Class Counsel will ask the Court’s permission to be compensated for litigating this case and representing the successful Class. Any sums received by Class Counsel in compensation will be deducted from any recovery, which will proportionately reduce the amount of any award each Class Member receives. If the case is unsuccessful, you will have no obligation for attorneys’ fees or costs.

Who is Class Counsel?

The Court has decided that attorneys at the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, led by partners Stephen Swedlow, J.D. Horton, and Adam Wolfson, are qualified to represent you and all Class Members. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP is called “Class Counsel.” Class Counsel has experience handling this type of lawsuit. More information about Class Counsel is available at: www.quinnemanuel.com.

For more information including a Class Action Opt-In Notice Form and Detailed Notice, please visit the Important Documents page of this website.