Northeast Georgia Health System and Anthem are reportedly "close" to a new agreement on a health insurance contract after months of negotiations which left thousands of Anthem policyholders "out of network" with NGHS.
“Anthem and Northeast Georgia Health System have told us they are close to an agreement in principle, one that will benefit the patients of Northeast, the customers of Anthem/Blue Cross and the constituents of the entire service area," according to State Sen. Butch Miller of Gainesville and State Rep. Terry England of Auburn.
Miller and England have scheduled a public hearing on the matter Dec. 30 in Gainesville if no agreement is reached.
The pair says Anthem and the health system have told them they have "resumed active negotiations and are diligently working in good faith toward an agreement. The parties have documents in hand that are moving towards a deal. Evaluation of those documents is underway through next week."
Miller and England said in a joint statement late Friday afternoon "Hence we are hopeful and have every reason to believe that an agreement will be reached, in which case the public hearing we have scheduled on the matter will not take place. However, in the event that the parties do not reach an agreement in principle, we will be moving forward with a public hearing on December 30, 2019, at 9:00 a.m. at the Gainesville Civic Center."
The lawmakers say they are inviting the public, representatives from Anthem, and representatives from the health system "to all have input on this very time sensitive matter, which we know is of grave importance to the hard working men and women of northeast Georgia.” Representatives of the state Department of Community Health are also expected to be on hand.
October 1 was the deadline for the two groups to reach an agreement. (Click here to see earlier story.)
