From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— UW Health and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield today announced they’re extending a coverage agreement to allow for more time for ongoing contract negotiations.
In identical press releases, the organizations said they’re extending UW Health’s participation in Anthem’s provider network through July 1, as an existing agreement was due to expire in mid-April. That means patients in Anthem’s plan will remain in-network for UW Health and affiliated care providers for now while the organizations work to hammer out a deal.
“Anthem and UW Health remain committed to negotiating a new multi-year agreement that ensures Anthem members have access to care at UW Health for years to come,” they said today.
The extension comes after UW Health last month said the insurer’s current offer at the time was “neither fair to their members nor our care teams” and was much lower than reimbursement rates offered to other Wisconsin health systems. The health system said Anthem was proposing an increase “well below” the rate of inflation and wanted to be able to change payment terms without renegotiation.
But Anthem in a separate statement last month said UW Health was requesting a 32% price increase over three years for its members, “more than four times the current rate of inflation” in the first year for care at certain UW Health facilities.
See the release below and see more coverage on the negotiations.
— The Wisconsin Beverage Association is urging lawmakers to reject a bill that would direct state health officials to seek a waiver allowing the state to bar the purchase of certain unhealthy foods through the FoodShare program.
A group of Republican lawmakers have been circulating a co-sponsorship memo for the bill, arguing the federally funded state food benefits program is “partially exacerbating” the state’s obesity and diabetes problem. Their memo argues junk food like soda and candy are widely purchased by beneficiaries in the program, undercutting its mission of expanding access to nutritious foods.
In an email sent to all state lawmakers yesterday, the Wisconsin Beverage Association says the proposal would impact more than 400 different “soft drinks” that don’t contain sugar or calories such as flavored waters and sports drinks.
To counter the bill authors’ claims about FoodShare playing a role in obesity rates, the group points to several studies on the “health benefits” of participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which funds the state program. The association says adults in SNAP have lower average health care costs, while children in the program have “better health status” than eligible peers that don’t participate.
In addition, the association points to soda consumption falling while obesity rates have risen, arguing “If the two were connected, obesity rates should have gone down with the decline in soda consumption.” The email also notes 95% of SNAP purchases are for food, not beverages.
The association claims the proposed restrictions “will add bureaucracy and hundreds of thousands of dollars in expense” without improving the program or decreasing its costs.
“Evidence does not support the claim that implementing restrictions on SNAP purchases will improve health,” the group wrote. “The reality is the causes of obesity are complex, and no single food is to blame.”
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