JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Florida’s largest health insurer may no longer be accepted at Baptist Health facilities, leaving many wondering if their doctor’s visits will cost them substantially more.
Florida Blue Insurance is undergoing contract negotiations with Baptist Health. If the parties can’t reach an agreement on a new contract before October, Baptist Health would be considering out-of-network for thousands of patients.
Many people like Nenita Brown rely on Baptist Health for their healthcare needs.
“Oh, I love my doctor,” Brown said.
As a Florida Blue insurance customer, she’s concerned about the ongoing contract dispute between her insurer and her preferred healthcare provider.
“Well, I like Baptist, because it’s really a wonderful hospital, we’ve been with this insurance company and hospital for 20 years me and my husband, I think all of his life. So yeah, it’s kinda like, you know, devastating to hear,” Brown said.
People with Florida Blue insurance, and who use Baptist Health services, will want to check their mailbox. Potentially impacted residents should have gotten a letter telling them about contract renegotiations that could impact their health coverage.
Thousands of people could lose access to their trusted doctors, including cancer patients at Baptist’s MD Anderson Center and children receiving care at Wolfson Children’s Hospital.
But nothing is changing yet.
Baptist maintained that they are “working hard” to reach an agreement.
The current contract between Baptist and Florida Blue expires on Sept. 30, 2024. After that date, if an agreement can’t be reached, Baptist Health would be considered out-of-network.
“It will be affected because that is our insurance. And we don’t have any plan to change our health insurance,” Brown said.
Contracts between hospitals and insurers typically determine the prices that insurers pay to hospitals for various medical services and the financial risks associated with them.
Even if an agreement is reached, patients could be financially impacted, by increased insurance premiums.
In a statement to News4JAX, a Florida Blue spokesperson said:
“We are currently in negotiations with northeast Florida’s Baptist Health and remain focused on reaching an agreement to keep this provider in-network without significantly increasing health care costs for our members.
Baptist Health operates hospitals, imaging centers, labs, primary and specialty care and other facilities across the Jacksonville area of Northeast Florida. If we do not reach an agreement, our contract with Baptist Health will terminate on September 30, 2024.
Throughout the negotiation process, our goal is to avoid health care disruption for our members and keep health care affordable and within reach for the millions of Floridians we serve. This is particularly important to our members who want to remain with their current hospital, provider, and/or doctor. This is a personal and important matter to them, and in turn for us.
We remain hopeful we can agree on final terms with Baptist Health that support our commitment to provide our members with affordable, quality health care, as we have in the past.
We encourage our members to visit https://www.FloridaBlue.com/Negotiation/BaptistHealthJax for our latest updates, or they can call the number located on the back of their member ID card.”
Florida Blue spokesperson
Janay Brown has Florida Blue and has seen her premium increase recently. She said another cost hike would have her looking elsewhere for her insurance needs.
“I went from $69 to $269. So, I already paid more,” Brown said. “Find a new insurance, I guess. One that’s better and one that doesn’t switch up on you so frequently.”
All patients with commercial, Medicare Advantage, and Exchange health insurance coverage from Florida Blue, as well as all Blue Cross Blue Shield plans could be affected by the renegotiation.
Baptist Health said in a statement to News4JAX:
“It is standard practice to review and update health insurance contracts from time to time. We rely on fair contracts to ensure we are paid appropriately, accurately, and promptly for the care we provide.
Our patients deserve to know that we are in contract negotiations with Florida Blue, which potentially impacts all Blue Cross Blue Shield plans used in our market. It is early in the process. Our goal is to reach an agreement before our current contracts expire on Sept. 30, 2024.
For now, nothing has changed; Baptist Health is still in network with Florida Blue and BCBS. Patients should continue to access care at Baptist Health/Wolfson Children’s as they normally would.
As our negotiation evolves, we are committed to keeping patients updated. In the meantime, patients can find answers to many questions at baptistjax.com/florida-blue or by calling 904.202.3247 Mon-Fri, 8 am – 8 pm.”
Baptist Health spokesperson