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On the first day of Obamacare open enrollment, a consumer group sued Anthem Blue Cross for attempting to automatically renew policies that no longer cover out-of-network costs for hundreds of thousands of Californians. A lawyer for Consumer Watchdog said Tuesday that Anthem was “railroading existing members into bare-bones plans” without properly disclosing the change to them in recent renewal letters. (Petersen, 11/1)

Calling it a classic “bait and switch,” a California consumer group on Tuesday lashed out at Anthem Blue Cross of California, claiming it failed to adequately warn customers they were being shifted in 2017 to brand-new, stripped-down plans. Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog announced it has filed a class action lawsuit against the health insurance giant after Anthem moved hundreds of thousands of its Preferred Provider Organization customers to Exclusive Provider Organization plans for 2017 — all the while calling the new plans “similar coverage.” PPO plans cover a portion of out-of-network costs, while EPO plans cover none of them. (Seipel, 11/1)