Purchasers of subsidized Anthem plans via the Affordable Care Act won’t be allowed to see doctors at Concord Hospital.
One of New Hampshire’s largest insurers confirmed what many conservatives had expected and believed: When the Affordable Care Act is implemented next year, not only will people be forced to buy insurance, but people who need subsidies will not be able to access care at the hospital closest to their homes.
The Health Care Reform Oversight Committee on Sept. 4, featured testimony by a New Hampshire Insurance Department official and officials from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, about the upcoming changes in health insurance coverage for many people currently without coverage.
Under the ACA, Americans without insurance will be forced to purchase a plan or be subject to fines. People needing insurance who are earning 400 percent above the poverty level will get access to plans that will be subsidized at various levels. There will also be non-subsidized plans available for those without insurance or above the income threshold.
However, the only company offering subsidized plans through the exchange, Anthem, has made side agreements with a little more than half the state’s hospitals, limiting coverage to thousands of potential new customers. Hospitals that have not signed onto the agreement will not be able to accept Anthem for coverage and those patients won’t be able to see doctors outside of the new network in 2014.
Hospitals that will not be covered by Anthem exchange plans include Concord Hospital, HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Concord, New Hampshire Hospital in Concord, Northeast Rehabilitation Hospital in Salem, Parkland Medical Center in Derry, Portsmouth Regional Hospital in Portsmouth, and Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua, as well as others.
Paula Rogers, the director of government affairs for Anthem, confirmed that the company had made contract agreements with 14 of the state’s 26 hospitals in an effort to contain costs while ensuring that hospitals in the agreement had “some expectation of increased volume” in the wake of those hospitals agreeing to lower prices for Anthem............
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