Missouri’s powerful Senate President Pro Tem indicates a deal has finally been reached between Columbia-based MU Health Care and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin (R-Shelbina) made a Facebook post on Friday, saying “touchdown” and saying we’ll learn details this week. Earlier that day, she had said we’re on the one-yard line on third down. The Pro Tem’s post thanks UM System President Dr. Mun Choi and Rich from Anthem.
Pro Tem O’Laughlin, who represents Moberly and Mexico in the 939 the Eagle listening area, tells “Wake Up Missouri” that the June 30th Senate committee hearing helped get talks moving. She says she called for that hearing because there was no negotiating happening at that point:
“I mean they just got like we can’t make any progress so we’re not negotiating and then that’s when I thought this is becoming extremely unfair to the patients,” Pro Tem O’Laughlin says.
MU Health Care’s 1,200 providers, 80 clinics and seven hospitals have been out of Anthem’s commercial network since April 1, when the two sides failed to reach an agreement to renew the contracts.
During the live “Wake Up Missouri” interview, Pro Tem O’Laughlin tells hosts Randy Tobler and Stephanie Bell that state senators in BOTH parties told MU Health Care and Anthem that they wanted to see this resolved:
“You have to get together, you have to compromise and you have to get this done. And Senator (Sandy) Crawford (of southwest Missouri’s Buffalo) who is the chairman of the (Missouri Senate) Insurance and Banking Committee really was instrumental in sort of getting that going,” Pro Tem O’Laughlin says.
Mid-Missouri patients impacted by the dispute have been urging both sides to reach an agreement, on 939 the Eagle’s Facebook page. You can hear the the full “Wake Up” interview with Senator O’Laughlin here.
