Anthem's $3,625,000 Proton Beam Settlement Covers About 140 Prostate Cancer Patients It Denied Coverage. Class Counsel Estimated $20,000 to $25,000 Each — but Only for Those Who Mail a Claim Form Postmarked by October 10, 2026.

The Anthem proton beam settlement ends a federal lawsuit brought by two prostate cancer patients, Todd J. Taylor and Thomas Lahowetz. Both were told by Anthem that proton beam radiation therapy (PBRT) would not be covered; according to their lawyers' brief, “Both named plaintiffs decided to treat their prostate cancer with proton beam radiation therapy anyway; both named plaintiffs paid for the therapy out-of-pocket.” Their suit, a claim for plan benefits under ERISA § 502(a)(1)(B), the federal law that governs employer-sponsored benefit plans, alleged that Anthem “improperly denied benefits for proton beam radiation therapy.” The plaintiffs' theory was that the denials followed “internal clinical guidelines that are identical and apply across-the-board to all class members,” not individual review. Anthem denies the claims and any wrongdoing, and the court made no finding of liability.

The parties settled at a mediation on January 20, 2026. Chief Judge William L. Campbell Jr. granted preliminary approval on May 22, 2026 and final approval on August 19, 2026, the same day he approved the fees; the court's order records zero requests for exclusion and zero objections. As of September 30, 2026, the latest update on the settlement website, dated August 21, reads: “The Court has granted approval the Class Settlement and has also granted plaintiffs' unopposed motion for attorneys' fees, reimbursable expenses, and service awards.”

Approval does not pay anyone automatically. A class member who does not send a claim form gets nothing and is still bound by the release. The claim deadline is October 10, 2026, and it is a postmark deadline: “Claim Forms must be postmarked no later than October 10, 2026.” The claim form itself says it “should be submitted by mail”; we found no online claim option on the official site. October 10, 2026 is a Saturday.

This is not a settlement anyone can join by filling out a form. The court certified the class as “The persons identified by Anthem in discovery in this Action who sought coverage from Anthem for PBRT for prostate cancer but whose treatments were not covered by insurance (by Anthem or otherwise).” Anthem searched its own records during the lawsuit and produced the list. The filings put it at about 140 people: the plaintiffs' brief says “approximately 140 persons” in one place and “the 142 class members” in another, and the administrator's declaration speaks of “approximately 144 Settlement Class Members, all of which can be provided with direct notice.” Each was to be mailed a notice with a claim form, and the court found the notice program had a reach of 95%. The settlement website puts it plainly: “If you are receiving this Notice, you have been identified by Anthem as someone who sought coverage from Anthem for PBRT for prostate cancer and Anthem denied coverage.”

The description behind the list, from the official FAQ, covers people who (1) were beneficiaries of an ERISA-regulated health plan, (2) had coverage under a plan underwritten or administered by Anthem, (3) sought PBRT to treat prostate cancer and (4) were denied because Anthem found PBRT “experimental, investigational, unproven, not sufficiently proven in effectiveness” or words to that effect. It includes both people whose request for prior authorization was refused and people whose claim for reimbursement was refused after treatment. The release also names denials as “not medically necessary” or not meeting clinical policy, and the plaintiffs said that in nearly all cases the stated reason was that the treatment was not medically necessary. Only prostate cancer is covered: a proton therapy denial for another cancer is outside this case. The settlement agreement's definition of “Plan” refers to “self-funded employer sponsored, ERISA-governed” plans effective at any time from May 25, 2017, while the FAQ speaks of plans “underwritten or administered by Anthem”; either way, the list decides who is in. The defendants are Blue Cross Blue Shield Healthcare Plan of Georgia, Inc. and Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc.; the class is defined by Anthem's list, not by state.

If Anthem denied you proton therapy for prostate cancer, you paid for it yourself and no notice arrived, the FAQ's answer is to ask: call 888-266-6960 or email admin@protonbeamradiationtherapylitigation.com. Only the administrator can confirm whether you are on Anthem's list, and that question has to be settled before October 10, 2026.

Anthem pays $3,625,000 in total. On August 19 the court awarded class counsel $906,250 in fees, 25% of the fund and less than the “up to 33.33%” the notice had warned of, plus $68,325.48 in expenses and $10,000 each to the two named plaintiffs. By our arithmetic that leaves $2,630,424.52 before the administrator's costs and taxes, which are not in the documents posted on the settlement site. Split evenly among all 142 people on the list, and before those costs, that would average about $18,500; fewer claims mean more per claimant.

The split is not even, though. Under the settlement agreement the administrator totals each claimant's “Qualifying Payments” — “the total amount of out-of-pocket payments made by a Settlement Class Member for PBRT for the treatment of prostate cancer” — and assigns each a “pro rata percentage” of the net fund based on that total. And: “In no event shall any Settlement Class Member receive a Settlement Payment that exceeds the aggregate sum of the Settlement Class Member's Qualifying Payment(s).” The plaintiffs' brief described it more simply, as the net fund “divided by participating and eligible class members,” capped at the actual payment; the signed agreement is the text that governs. The only estimate in the court filings is in that brief, filed May 19: “Class counsel estimates that class members' individual recovery will be between $20,000 to $25,000.” A co-counsel's declaration adds that class members “will receive a significant portion of the amounts they paid out-of-pocket to obtain PBRT treatment.” The estimate predates the fee ruling, and the brief does not show what it assumes about how many people file or how much each paid.

One detail of the cap is easy to miss. If the claimants' documented payments add up to less than the net fund, the remainder is not spread among them: the agreement sends any undistributed portion, “for example as a result of Opt-Outs and/or the Individual Settlement Cap,” to the cy pres recipient, the Beam of Hope Foundation. Your documented total is both the basis of your share and its ceiling, so the paperwork you send decides the amount.

The claim form is two pages. It asks one yes-or-no question — “Did you receive treatment for prostate cancer after your request for coverage for PBRT coverage was denied by Anthem and you paid out-of-pocket for the treatment (i.e., the treatment was not covered by insurance)?” — then the provider's name and address, the dates of service, the amount paid out of pocket and a description of the services, followed by your contact details and a signed attestation. It does not ask for a Social Security number or bank details. Proof is part of the claim: “Settlement Class Members must also submit documentation that demonstrates that the Settlement Class Member incurred a Qualifying Payment(s),” showing (1) the provider's name, (2) the provider's address, (3) the date(s) of service, (4) a description of the services and (5) the amount you paid out of pocket. The form also says you “may either complete the questions below or submit documentation that contains the requested information”; because the documentation is listed as required, the safe course is both — the completed form plus the itemized bills, statements or receipts from the proton center that show what you paid.

The form mailed to class members is pre-printed with a claim ID and a PIN, and the administrator's notice plan called for a business-reply return envelope in the same package. The address is: Taylor, et al. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield Healthcare Plan of Georgia, Inc., et al. Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 301132, Los Angeles, CA 90030-1132. What counts is the postmark, not the day it arrives. With the deadline on a Saturday, we would hand the envelope in at a post office counter and keep the receipt — our suggestion, not a requirement of the settlement.

The other deadlines have passed. Requests to opt out and objections were due by July 27, 2026, and the court's final order records none of either. Anyone on the list who does not file a claim is still bound by the release.

The agreement ties payment to the Effective Date, the day the final judgment “is no longer subject to appeal or review.” The administrator must pay “as promptly as possible after the Effective Date and, in any event, no later than 60 days after the Effective Date,” by check. Anthem had to wire the fund, less a $20,000 advance for notice and administration costs, into escrow within 30 business days of the August 19 judgment — by about October 1, 2026, by our count. We could not confirm from the court docket whether an appeal was filed, so we cannot give a payment date. Because each share depends on the total of all valid claims, payments cannot be calculated before the claim period has closed.

Once a check arrives, cash it. It is void if not cashed within 180 days; a voided check is reissued once, and the reissued check must be cashed within 60 days. After that the agreement is blunt: the administrator “shall within 81 days after the check's reissuance date remit the amount of such uncashed check(s) to Anthem.” Money left over from the cap and from opt-outs goes to charity; an uncashed check goes back to the company that was sued. If you move, give the administrator your new address.

The settlement is real. The court appointed Verita Global, LLC as administrator, and the official site is protonbeamradiationtherapylitigation.com; it shows a security check before the page loads. The contacts are 888-266-6960, admin@protonbeamradiationtherapylitigation.com and the Los Angeles P.O. box above, and the FAQ asks people not to call the court. Class counsel are Jordan Lewis, P.A.; Herzfeld, Suetholz, Gastel, Leniski & Wall PLLC; Morgan & Morgan; and Strauss Troy Co., LPA. “You will not be charged for these lawyers,” the FAQ says, so a request for a fee to file or to release a payment is a warning sign.

Anthem's name is on several settlement notices, and they do not overlap. This one covers only proton therapy for prostate cancer. The Blue Cross Blue Shield antitrust settlement, a $2.67 billion fund, closed to claims on November 5, 2021 and began its initial distribution on May 11, 2026. The Collins v. Anthem settlement in the Eastern District of New York covered denials of residential mental health and substance use treatment; its claims had to be submitted or postmarked by January 20, 2026. The LiveHealth Online booking-tool settlement is a privacy case against the telehealth platform operator American Well. Being in one of them does not put you in another.

What sets this case apart is its size: about $2.63 million, before administration costs, for roughly 140 people who each paid for proton therapy themselves, with a counsel estimate in five figures. Top Class Actions lists it among the October 2026 claim deadlines, so people who are not on Anthem's list are reading about it too. For them there is nothing to file. For the people who are on it, the postmark on October 10, 2026 decides whether any of that money reaches them.