LOUISIANA (KLFY)-- The recent refiling of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana acquisition has resulted in a Louisiana attorney filing a class action lawsuit with a federal court.

Earlier this month Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana filed a new proposal to restructure its organization from a non-profit taxpayer organization, to be acquired by an out of state for-profit insurance provider. Because of this, attorney Henry Kinney said he has filed a lawsuit against a new foundation, The Accelerate Louisiana Initiative and its board members.

"Well, the lawsuit was filed by me against the foundation, which is called Accelerate Louisiana and the board of that foundation," Kinney said.

When News 10 spoke with Kinney, he said he filed the lawsuit because he felt he needed to do something about the affects the possible merger would have on policyholders.

"It's just that I realized when I saw something that was as bad as this proposal, that I wasn't going to sit back and do nothing," Kinney said.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana initially filed to have a status change in its organization back in January of this year.

As a result of the proposal, the Accelerate Louisiana Initiative Foundation was created. After public concern and opposition from policyholders and lawmakers, Blue Cross Blue Shield halted the merger.

Now, two months after pausing the merger, the recent refiling has Kinney making it known his stance on the role of board members and the foundation.

"What I've said is I don't think you should be involved in trying to advocate to take the member's money," Kinney said. "You're a third party off the street and you're joining with the memberships entity blue cross to take our money."

Kinney said one of the aspects on why the merger is not beneficial for members, is because majority of them would not receive compensation from the sale. He said a large percentage of the money from the sale would go to the new foundation and its board members along with some policyholders.

"So, 91% of the money goes to this hand-picked board of a social welfare foundation that has no restraints and not one hint of a relationship with the members," Kinney said.

Kinney said the preliminary hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for Jan. 9, and he wants to inform policy holders to be proactive and informed on what this merger could mean.

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