As open enrollment for health insurance nears, one of the nation’s leading insurers is urging Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) to accept its latest contract offer.
United Healthcare (UHC) has been out of network with NGHS since April 30, when their previous contract expired. When that happened, thousands of United policyholders in and around Northeast Georgia suddenly found themselves out of network.
‘More than ‘fair and reasonable’
This latest offer from United is the first sign of movement in the stalled talks in months.
A statement issued to Now Habersham United says: “We countered ourselves and delivered a new proposal to NGHS on September 21 that included additional compromises on top of the many we’d previously made throughout the negotiation. We urge NGHS to finalize the terms of our proposal and to restore network access to the health system for the Georgians we serve.”
According to United, the last proposal NGHS offered was in February.
“Our latest proposal would reimburse NGHS at rates that far exceed the market and are more than fair and reasonable.” – UHC spokesperson
A spokesperson for the insurance company says all of the proposals they have presented in the negotiations have provided NGHS with “meaningful rate increases.”
“This proposal is no different, except it also provides NGHS with multiple options to choose from based on the feedback they provided and includes additional compromises,” says UHC Director of Communications Cole Manbeck.
He says this latest offer would reimburse NGHS at rates that “far exceed” the market and are “more than fair and reasonable.”
“We delivered this proposal in the spirit of good-faith negotiation designed to put an end to this disruption,” says Manbeck.
Claims of dishonesty
When negotiations failed earlier this year, United said it was because NGHS sought a 20% increase over three years. That included a double-digit rate increase in the first year that United claimed would make NGHS hospitals the most expensive in Georgia.
NGHS, which operates hospitals in Gainesville and Braselton, as well as in Barrow, Lumpkin, and Habersham counties, fired back at those claims, saying it proposed “a single-digit increase” that would have brought United in line with all the other insurance companies.
Steve McNeilly, Chief Operating Officer of Population Health and Vice President of Managed Care Operations, called the proposal United submitted in March “unreasonable.” He says NGHS is now reviewing United’s latest proposal.
Whether or not a decision will be made in time to satisfy policyholders has yet to be seen.
Open enrollment begins on November 1.
