By Diana Novak Jones (Reuters) -A federal judge in Texas on Friday tossed a lawsuit brought by Humana (NYSE: HUM ) that challenged the U.S. government's reduction in the health insurer's star ratings for government-backed Medicare plans. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, dismissed the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after finding that Humana had failed to exhaust all of its out-of-court options to challenge the ratings. Humana had alleged in its complaint that the lower ratings could cause it to lose customers and potentially billions in bonus payments from the government, which would have been used to reduce premiums and increase benefits for its members. Shares of Humana were down about 3.4% lower in early afternoon trading. Shares of other insurers, including UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH ) and Centene (NYSE: CNC ), were also down between 1.5% and 3.5%.