Anthem and Hartford HealthCare need to get in a room right now and iron out the dollars and cents of a new agreement. They are both major players in health care in Greater Hartford. They both have an obligation to those whose health depends on them.
There’s been a lot of back and forth about who’s right and who’s wrong, but at the end of the day this is a financial puzzle.
Solve it.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ought to intervene if there isn’t any movement on this contract dispute very soon. Tens of thousands of people depend on Hartford HealthCare and Anthem to care for them. The hospital/doctor network and the insurance company have a public responsibility to reach a resolution soon and get back to caring for patients.
The Courant reported Sunday on some of the people caught up in the dispute since Anthem’s contract with Hartford HealthCare expired on Sept. 30. Their doctors are now out of the HHC network, which includes Hartford Hospital, Backus Hospital in Norwich, Windham Hospital, MidState Medical Center in Meriden, the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain and Southington, and other doctors associated with Hartford HealthCare. So these patients risk higher costs if they see professionals they’ve relied on for years.
Those with serious illnesses are getting hurt the most. Some are putting off surgeries. Some are rationing their medication.
One heartbreaking story is of Simsbury resident Mark Riley, who needs surgery every 90 days to put a stent in his pancreas. His procedure at Hartford Hospital was canceled due to the contract dispute. He trusts the surgeon, who has “been in there 20 times,” he said.
Another is of Stephanie Bruneau of Colchester. The Courant reports that she was “diagnosed with a brain tumor on Sept. 30 after a fall sent her to Backus Hospital. She woke up in the hospital the next day and was told by staff that her insurance wouldn’t be accepted.”
Connecticut Comptroller Kevin Lembo is right to call this stalemate an “outrageous failure” to protect the welfare of patients.
The time for posturing is over. It’s time to get this done.
![VANCOUVER, British Columbia — About 50 US military “aid” packages have been sent to Ukraine since 2022, according to the Pentagon. And now Congress has just authorized about another$60 billion, with US lawmakers waving little Ukrainian flags in reaction to the vote, like they were a parent at school Sports Day cheering on their kid […]](https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/202404231130TMS_____AMVOICES_58697_marsden-ukraine-20240423.jpg?w=525 "VANCOUVER, British Columbia — About 50 US military “aid” packages have been sent to Ukraine since 2022, according to the Pentagon. And now Congress has just authorized about another$60 billion, with US lawmakers waving little Ukrainian flags in reaction to the vote, like they were a parent at school Sports Day cheering on their kid […]")
