Prostate cancer patients whom Anthem identified as having sought coverage for proton beam radiation therapy that was never covered by insurance may qualify to claim a pro rata share of a $3,625,000 settlement fund. Claims close October 10, 2026, and the court granted final approval on August 21, 2026.
Current Status
Claims are open. Claim forms must be postmarked no later than October 10, 2026; the official notice does not specify a timezone, and none applies to a postmark. The court granted final approval of the settlement on August 21, 2026 and granted the unopposed motion for attorneys' fees, reimbursable expenses and service awards at the same time. No payment date has been announced. Payments follow the Effective Date — the point at which the final order and judgment is no longer subject to appeal — so class members who have not yet mailed a claim form still have a window, and those who have filed are waiting on that date rather than on the hearing.Free settlement alerts
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What Changed Recently?
The final approval hearing was held August 19, 2026 — moved earlier the same day, from 2:00 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. — and the court entered final approval on August 21, 2026. That order did two things at once: it approved the class settlement, and it granted the class representatives' unopposed motion for attorneys' fees, reimbursable expenses and service awards.The claim window outlasts the approval because the two run on different clocks. The claims period was set at 120 days from the notice date rather than from the hearing, which is why class members can still file in the weeks after a settlement that is already approved. The opt-out and objection deadlines, by contrast, both passed on July 27, 2026.
Anthem admits no wrongdoing and expressly denies the allegations. The settlement agreement states that neither the agreement nor the negotiations behind it may be construed as an admission or concession of fault or liability of any kind.
Who Qualifies?
The settlement class is the persons Anthem identified in discovery in this case who sought coverage from Anthem for proton beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer but whose treatments were not covered by insurance, by Anthem or otherwise. The preliminary approval order put that group at roughly 140 people, and Anthem produced their claims files during the litigation.That definition matters more than it looks. This is a closed list rather than an open description of conduct: membership was fixed by Anthem's own records before notice went out, so a person who was denied proton therapy coverage but was not among those Anthem identified is not in the class. The notice was mailed or emailed to the last known addresses Anthem supplied, updated against the National Change of Address database, with returned mail skip-traced and re-mailed.
The lawsuit claimed that Anthem denied coverage for the therapy to people who were beneficiaries of an ERISA-regulated health plan, had coverage under a plan Anthem underwrote or administered, sought proton therapy to treat prostate cancer, and were turned down on a determination that the treatment was experimental, investigational, unproven, not sufficiently proven in effectiveness, or words to that effect. Both pre-service authorization denials and post-service reimbursement denials are covered. If the ERISA framing is unfamiliar, OCA's plain-language guide to ERISA explains what the statute governs and why benefit-denial suits are brought under it.
Four groups are excluded: any judicial officer presiding over the case, along with their immediate family and judicial staff; Anthem, its employees and their immediate families; class counsel, their employees and their immediate families; and anyone who validly opted out of the class.
How Much Can You Get?
Anthem agreed to pay $3,625,000 into a common fund. Court-approved attorneys' fees and costs, service awards for the class representatives, and the costs of administering the settlement come out of the fund first; the balance is what gets divided among class members who file valid claim forms.The administrator calculates each payment from the class member's total Qualifying Payments — the out-of-pocket amounts they actually paid for proton beam radiation therapy to treat prostate cancer because the treatment was not covered by insurance. Those totals set each person's pro rata percentage of the distributable fund.
One limit shapes the result more than the arithmetic does. The Individual Settlement Cap says no class member may receive more than the sum of their own Qualifying Payments, so a pro rata share larger than what a person actually paid is cut down to what they paid. Money left over because of that cap, or because someone opted out, goes to the cy pres recipient named in the agreement, the Beam of Hope Foundation, rather than back to Anthem.
At preliminary approval, class counsel estimated individual recoveries of $20,000 to $25,000. That is an estimate offered to the court before claims were filed, not a promised amount: the actual figure depends on how many class members file, what their documented out-of-pocket totals come to, and what the court awarded in fees, expenses and service awards. The notice told class members that counsel would ask for attorneys' fees of up to 33.33% of the fund plus reimbursement of reasonable costs, and a $10,000 service award for each of the class representatives.
Payment is by check, and the checks expire. A settlement check must be cashed within 180 days of issuance or it becomes void; the administrator reissues voided checks once, and a reissued check must be cashed within 60 days. Uncashed checks are returned to Anthem, and a class member who lets a check expire still stays bound by the release.
What Proof or Notice ID Is Required?
Proof is required, and it is documentation rather than a code. A claim form alone is not enough: class members must also submit documentation showing that they incurred a Qualifying Payment. The claim form specifies five items that the documentation has to contain — the provider's name, the provider's address, the date or dates of service, a description of the services provided, and the provider charges the class member paid out of pocket.In practice that means billing records, an itemized statement or an explanation of benefits from the treating provider. The claim form lets a class member either write the five items into the numbered fields or attach documentation that already contains them, and it is signed under an attestation that the information given is true and correct. The administrator has sole discretion to decide whether a claim is deficient in whole or in part.
What Is the Deadline?
Claim forms must be postmarked no later than October 10, 2026. The settlement materials set a postmark deadline rather than an online submission cutoff, so no timezone applies and none is specified — the date on the postmark is what counts.The deadlines for leaving the class or objecting to the settlement have already passed. Both fell on July 27, 2026, which means the only remaining action available to a class member is filing a claim.
How Do You Take Action?
The claim form is printed from the official proton beam radiation therapy litigation settlement website, completed, and mailed to the settlement administrator at the address printed on the form itself. The same site hosts the settlement agreement, the long-form notice and the case documents.Three things are worth doing before mailing. Gather the provider documentation first, because the claim is judged on what the paperwork shows rather than on the form's summary. Check that the documentation carries all five required items, since a statement missing the provider address or the description of services is the kind of gap that makes a claim deficient. And allow for mail transit — October 10, 2026 is a postmark deadline, not a delivery deadline, but a form mailed on the last day depends on that day's postmark.
What Happens Next?
The next milestone is the Effective Date, defined in the settlement agreement as the date the final order and judgment is no longer subject to appeal or review, whether through exhaustion of appeals, lapse of time, or otherwise. Anthem deposits the balance of the fund within 30 business days of the final order, and the administrator distributes the fund no later than 60 days after the Effective Date.No appeal, Effective Date or payment date had been announced in the settlement materials as of publication. The notice cautioned class members that appeals are always possible and can take more than a year to resolve, and the court retains jurisdiction over interpretation and enforcement of the agreement.
Sources and Verification
This page was built from the primary settlement record: the official settlement website and its posted case documents, the court-authorized long-form notice, the claim form, and the settlement agreement and release filed in the case. Case posture, class size and the schedule come from the order granting preliminary approval; the final approval date and the fee ruling come from the settlement website's own case update. Statements about what Anthem did or did not do are drawn from those documents and are framed as the parties themselves frame them.Questions
Can someone join the settlement if Anthem never sent them a notice?
No. The settlement class is a closed list — the people Anthem itself identified during discovery in the case as having sought coverage for proton beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer that was not covered by insurance. There is no way to self-enroll, and the notice went to the addresses Anthem supplied. Anyone unsure whether they were identified can ask through the official settlement website.
Does the settlement cover proton therapy for cancers other than prostate cancer?
No. Both the class definition and the released claims are limited to proton beam radiation therapy sought for the treatment of prostate cancer. Denials of proton therapy for other diagnoses are outside this settlement and are not released by it.
Is the claim form filed online or mailed?
The claim form is printed from the official settlement website and mailed to the settlement administrator. The settlement agreement and the notice describe a postmark deadline rather than an online submission, and claim forms must be postmarked no later than October 10, 2026.
What happens if a class member's out-of-pocket total is less than their pro rata share?
The payment is reduced to the out-of-pocket total. The settlement agreement sets an Individual Settlement Cap: no class member may receive more than the sum of their own Qualifying Payments for proton beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer, so the cap limits a payment rather than adding to it.
When will settlement payments be issued?
No payment date has been announced. Under the settlement agreement the administrator distributes the fund within 60 days of the Effective Date, which is the date the final order and judgment is no longer subject to appeal or review. The court granted final approval on August 21, 2026, and the appeal window and any appeal have to run before that date arrives.
What happens to money that is not paid out to class members?
Two different rules apply. Funds left undistributed because of opt-outs or the Individual Settlement Cap go to the cy pres recipient named in the settlement agreement, the Beam of Hope Foundation. Checks that are issued, reissued and still not cashed are instead returned to Anthem, and the release stays in force either way.
