Kroger Pharmacy Customers Who Paid With Insurance Since December 2018 Can File by Dec. 21 for a Share of a $17 Million Settlement

At the pharmacy counter, an insured customer’s out-of-pocket cost can depend on a price most shoppers never see: the “usual and customary” price the pharmacy reports to the insurer. A lawsuit claimed Kroger kept that number too high by leaving out its cheaper Savings Club prices. Kroger has agreed to a $17 million settlement, and people who paid for prescriptions at Kroger pharmacies with insurance from Dec. 9, 2018, through Aug. 23, 2026, can file a claim by Dec. 21.

What the lawsuit says Kroger left out

The case is Kirkbride et al. v. The Kroger Co., No. 2:21-cv-00022, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. According to the court-approved long-form notice, the Savings Club offered “special prices available to club members who elected to join the Savings Club, pay an annual membership fee, and satisfy other terms and conditions.”

The plaintiffs argued those club prices should have counted when Kroger set the usual and customary prices it reported to insurers. Leaving them out, the lawsuit claimed, meant insured customers sometimes paid more than they should have. NewsChannel 5 in Nashville reported that the suit alleged Kroger did not account for the lower Savings Club prices when reporting drug prices to insurers, so some customers paid more out of pocket.

The case number shows it was filed in 2021, so the dispute has been in court for about five years. Class counsel are Arisohn LLC, Smith Krivoshey, P.C., and Bursor & Fisher, P.A., according to ClaimDepot.

Kroger denies wrongdoing. The notice says the company contends Savings Club prices are not its “usual” or “customary” prices, and the settlement includes no finding of liability.

Who is in the class

The class, as defined in the notice, includes “all individuals in the United States and its territories” who, from Dec. 9, 2018, through Aug. 23, 2026, paid in whole or in part for one or more prescription drugs from Kroger using their insurance. Savings Club membership is not required.

“Kroger” in the settlement reaches beyond stores with the Kroger name. The notice defines it as “all pharmacies owned and/or operated by The Kroger Co. or any of its affiliates,” with the full list in Exhibit A of the plan of allocation on the official settlement website. Anyone who filled prescriptions at a Kroger-owned grocery chain under another name can check that list.

Prescriptions paid entirely out of pocket or through a discount program instead of insurance do not count, according to an Open Class Actions guide to the settlement.

NewsChannel 5 reported that people who received a mailed notice likely already have their purchase records on file with Kroger. Those who did not get a notice can download a claim form from the settlement website.

Proof only above $8,000

Most claimants will not need receipts. According to a ClaimDepot summary of the claim rules, documentation is required only if a claimant estimates $8,000 or more in out-of-pocket payments, in the form of itemized receipts, invoices, statements, insurance documents or other records of Kroger drug purchases. Below that amount, no proof is needed up front, though the administrator may ask for it later.

There is no flat payment. Each claimant’s share equals that person’s recognized claim divided by the total of all recognized claims, multiplied by the net settlement fund, the notice says. Someone who spent more on insured prescriptions at Kroger over the class period would receive a larger share, and the total depends on how many people file. For households that fill maintenance prescriptions every month, nearly eight years of copays at one pharmacy chain can add up, which is why the formula tracks spending rather than paying a flat amount.

The fund will shrink before it is divided. Class counsel will ask for attorneys’ fees of up to one-third of the $17 million fund, plus up to $610,325.71 in expenses, and the named plaintiffs will request service awards of up to $5,000 each. ClaimDepot lists notice and administration costs of up to $352,000 and puts the maximum attorneys’ fee at $5,666,666.67, which is one-third of the fund. If every requested amount is approved, roughly $10.4 million would remain for claimants, before any other approved deductions.

Approved claimants can choose PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, ACH transfer, a virtual prepaid card or a paper check, ClaimDepot reports.

Payouts wait on a January ruling

The Dec. 21, 2026, claim deadline comes first. The deadline for opting out or objecting already passed on Oct. 22. Judge Algenon L. Marbley will hold the fairness hearing on Jan. 11, 2027, at 10 a.m. Eastern in Columbus, Ohio, where he will decide whether to approve the settlement, the allocation plan and the fee request.

Payment will not be immediate. NewsChannel 5 reported that payments are expected within 120 days after the settlement takes effect, while ClaimDepot estimates about 150 days after final approval if there are no appeals.

Questions go to the administrator, Angeion Group, at 888-535-4262 or [email protected]. Paper claim forms and letters can be mailed to Kroger Savings Club Litigation Settlement, c/o Angeion Group, 1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210, Philadelphia, PA 19103, according to NewsChannel 5’s Hannah McDonald.

Kroger joins a long list of household names with open claim windows this fall. Others include Apple’s $250 million Siri settlement, which shares the same Dec. 21 deadline, and Amazon’s $309.5 million returns case.

Get stories like this by email. Sign up for The Parent Diaries Letter.

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Mike Kalasnik from Fort Mill, USA – CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons