Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney blasts UMMC, Blue Cross over insurance fight
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Nov. 1—JACKSON — Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney last week excoriated both the state's largest hospital and largest insurance provider for failing to come to an agreement over network reimbursement rates and leaving thousands of Mississippians in limbo.
Chaney, a Republican, told business leaders last week at the Mississippi Economic Council's annual Hobnob event that both the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Blue Cross Blue Shield share blame in letting its network contract lapse.
"Both parties are wrong. The university is asking for too much money. Blue Cross Blue Shield can give more," Chaney said. "They're just hard-headed elephants. You know what happens when elephants fight? Ants get stomped. And we're the ants that are getting stomped."
UMMC went out of network with Blue Cross Blue Shield on April 1 because of disagreements over reimbursement rates and the insurance company's quality care plan.
Blue Cross customers can still seek treatment at UMMC, but since their policy is out of network, they'll have to pay significantly higher fees for treatment.
There are other providers from which customers can seek care, but UMMC is the only academic medical center in the state and the only facility that offers certain services such as organ transplants.
Chaney went even further when talking to reporters after his speech and criticized the appointed board of trustees for the Institutions of Higher Learning, the organization that governs Mississippi's public universities, for supposedly supporting the medical center in the dispute.
"The elephant in the room is the IHL board has backed what (UMMC is) doing, and it's wrong," Chaney said.
A representative of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi did not respond to a request for comment. Communications officials with IHL and UMMC declined to comment.
The four-term commissioner said that while he's frustrated with the university and the insurance company, the parties involved are continuing to talk. Chaney showed reporters a text message that University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce sent to him wanting to discuss the status of the negotiations.
Jacob Batte, a spokesperson for the University of Mississippi, said that Boyce is committed to resolving this issue as soon as possible to help the thousands who rely on Blue Cross Blue Shield for health insurance.
"Any further discussions will be with the relevant parties to reach a resolution as quickly as possible," Batte said.
During the early stages of the dispute, Chaney largely adopted more of a restrained strategy and ordered the two parties to sit down to resolve the disagreement through a mediation process.
But now that Chaney ended the required mediation, he has emerged as a sharp critic of both the medical center and insurance company.
Chaney, a former lawmaker, has also called on legislators to pass a bill that would stop network contracts between insurance companies and health care providers from being canceled outside of a 90-day window before an open enrollment period to prevent this scenario from happening again.
Senate Insurance Committee Chairman Walter Michel, R-Madison, previously told the Daily Journal he supported the proposal. The legislative session begins in early January.
