Delta Dental Plans Association, the country’s top dental insurer, was hit with a wave of antitrust lawsuits in the Northern District of Illinois accusing it of conspiring with independent affiliates to divide the country into 39 geographic markets.

The scheme has freed the Delta-linked insurers from having to compete against one another and given them a common mechanism for rigging the dental reimbursement market, according to seven proposed class actions brought by separate dental practices. The cases were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois between Oct. 11 and Oct. 14.

By carving up the…

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