By: Jacob Richey
A Missouri Senate committee will hold a public hearing at the end of the month focused on failed negotiations between MU Health Care and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield that has impacted the coverage of 90,000 people.
The Missouri Senate Insurance and Banking Committee will convene for the hearing at 1 p.m. June 30.
Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Republican from Shelbina, wrote in a social media post that she asked the chair of the committee to organize the hearing. She also wrote that she has met with both MU Health Care and Anthem.
“While I understand the complexity involved in health care, I am encouraging both to find an agreement,” O’Laughlin wrote. “Patients need their doctors, and literally thousands of people are affected by this.”
MU Health Care and Anthem failed to renew their commercial contracts by April 1. Following the negotiation deadline, both parties released statements blaming the other.
MU Health Care was seeking a 39% increase in prices over the next three years, which Anthem said was four times the rate of inflation. Anthem said MU Health Care rejected its offers and canceled meetings with the deadline looming, according to past KOMU 8 reporting.
The June 30 hearing comes as MU Health Care patients who were on the continuity of care plan with Anthem will lose in-network access to their provider.
This story originally appeared in the Columbia Missourian and KOMU. It can be republished in print or online.
