Florida Blue has alerted patients in second region of the state about the potential of them losing coverage Oct. 1 due to an impasse with a major health system.
Florida Blue is telling patients the Naples-based NCH be out of network if a new insurer-hospital agreement can’t be reached. This would include hospitals, physician groups and other specialty care services.
A week ago, Florida Blue similarly advised Baptist Health patients in Northeast Florida of an impending end of coverage for the same reason, according to Jacksonville Today.
Both agreements expire Sept. 30. Florida law requires Florida Blue to communicate to patients what may happen if no deal is reached.
In a statement, Florida Blue said, in part:
"We are currently in negotiations and doing everything we can to reach an agreement with NCH ─ to avoid health care disruption for our members and keep the area’s health care as affordable as possible. NCH continues to demand excessive rates without a commitment to improve the efficiency of care, which would only result in higher costs for those in the community, many of whom are already struggling financially."
NCH did not respond to a request for comment.
However, NCH wrote on its website that Florida Blue, a licensee of Blue Cross Blue Shield, “significantly underpays NCH compared to other hospitals and providers” in Southwest Florida.
The hospital system also wrote, “Florida Blue threatens the ability for patients and families to have local access to essential and critical care” without a fair agreement.
Baptist Health has a page on its website detailing the negotiations from its perspective. It accuses Florida Blue of making false accusations in the message to patients.
Florida Blue also established a landing page regarding the Baptist Health situation. The insurer’s leaders accused Baptist Health of not negotiating in good faith.
Copyright 2024 WGCU
