Salinas Valley Health Anthem Blue Cross Still Have No Deal Reached

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV)- Some local patients could be at risk of significantly higher medical costs if an agreement between Anthem Blue Cross and Salinas Valley Health isn’t reached by Tuesday.

People with Anthem Blue Cross could see “out-of-network” costs at Salinas Valley Health if the current agreement expires on August 1. The hospital says that they will pay for the “out-of-network” costs for patients but would not say for how long.

“Blue Cross and Salinas Valley Health could easily agree to an extension to give them more time to continue negotiating and to not have a disruption for local residents," Monterey County District 1 Supervisor Luis Alejo.

Alejo points out anthem hasn’t made any headway in their discussions with Salinas Valley Health.

In a statement to KION, an Anthem Blue Cross spokesperson said in part, "The increases being sought by Salinas Valley Health are unsustainable and will lead to significant cost increases and result in higher premiums, deductibles, and copays for local health care consumers.”

Salinas Valley Health disagrees.

In a statement, Salinas Valley Health President and CEO Pete Delgado said in part, “Big insurance companies are leveraging their size to increase rates on patients, generating record profits and yet seem unwilling to reimburse care providers for the cost and quality of the services we provide.”

According to Covered California, Anthem increased consumer rates by 10.9 %, above the 9.6% statewide average.

“Their customer base here is far and large. They owe they owe it to them to not create a disruption unnecessarily," said Supervisor Alejo.

Salinas Valley Health said they sent notifications to 11,000 Anthem patients who have used Salinas Valley Medical Center or Salinas Valley Health Clinics in the past year.

Salinas Valley Health has set up resources on its website: https://www.salinasvalleyhealth.com/patients-visitors/for-patients/salinas-valley-health-anthem-blue-cross-negotiat/