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Article: Blue Cross bid rejected by hospitals Offer to delay cuts, negotiate with hospitals turned down
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- December 17, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1997 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Hospitals, outraged by a decision by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Massachusetts to lower hospital payments 5.06 percent beginning Jan.
1, yesterday rejected the insurer's offer to postpone the decrease
until Feb. 2.
Blue Cross has maintained the decrease is necessary because it
doesn't have the cash to pay $30 million a year to a "free care pool"
that funds the state's care of uninsured residents. But hospital
officials yesterday said the state's largest insurer was being
disingenuous, citing Blue Cross's own projections that it expects to
earn $71.8 million in 1998, according to a statement the company
filed Nov. 20 with the state Division of Insurance.
"Blue Cross is simply postponing its ...