Last evening, September 16, Florida Blue leaders hosted a discussion with nearly 50 members of the business and non-profit communities about its current negotiations with NCH.
- The session was well-attended by community leaders who were eager to understand what is being done to prevent burdensome cost increases for employers and organizations in Southwest Florida.
- Florida Blue’s Phillip Lee, West Florida Market President, reiterated that Florida Blue is committed to keeping NCH in-network and is hopeful that an agreement can be reached. “We’re asking NCH to do their part in addressing the spiraling cost of health care services and improving care delivery. Clinical inefficiency drives up the cost of health care for everyone, and we expect NCH to use its market dominance and scale to improve performance and deliver value to our members. Unfortunately, NCH leaders have refused to work with us on these issues.
Florida Blue is a mission-driven organization that is owned by our policyholders – we operate with margins in the low single digits.
Through their misleading marketing campaign, NCH has talked about the fact that Florida Blue serves the people of Florida all across our state and in every county.
In other words, as the state’s leading health insurers, we make all of this money and can “afford” to pay them whatever they want.
The reality of our business is that the vast majority of revenue goes back to members and the communities we serve through claims for medical expenses and direct services. 85-to-90 cents of every dollar we collect in premiums goes directly to pay for qualified health and medical expenses.
It is our responsibility to keep those costs and expenses in check on behalf of our policyholders like you.”
- Florida Blue and NCH owe it to pregnant women to remove unnecessary anxiety and extend continuity of care to any woman who delivers a baby at NCH between October 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025 (9 months). Florida Blue has made this request to NCH. We ask the public to encourage NCH leaders to agree to extend continuity of care if a contract is not finalized before October 1, 2024.
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