Kentucky Blue Cross Is Sued Over Assets

Kentucky’s Attorney General has sued Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to recover what he says are millions of dollars in charitable assets that were lost when it converted to a for-profit company in 1993.

Attorney General A. B. Chandler III said that at least $230-million accumulated by the organization when it was the non-profit Kentucky Blue Cross and Blue Shield should be turned over to an unspecified Kentucky entity with the goal of “promoting health care for the benefit of the community.”

Mr. Chandler said those assets were committed to charitable purposes ever since the organization was formed in 1938 as the Louisville Community Hospital Service.

But Anthem officials insist that the assets retained when Blue Cross merged with the Anthem Insurance Company were always earmarked for the benefit of its policyholders, never for the good of the public.