The Mississippi legislature could step in to attempt to resolve an impasse between the state’s largest insurance company and a group of ten Mississippi hospitals. A joint legislative hearing about the dispute was sometimes heated and emotional.
A standing room only crowd of mostly doctors, lobbyist, and legislators packed the committee room yesterday for a hearing about the on-going contract dispute between Blue Cross Blue Shield and Hospital Management Associates which runs 10 hospitals in Mississippi.
The two companies are feuding over how much the insurance company should pay for procedures.
Paul Hurst with HMA claims Blue Cross is using its dominate market position to strong arm the hospitals into lower payments.