IU Health, UnitedHealthcare fail to reach new agreement

Chris Sturbaum, founder of Golden Hands Construction Company, said he realizes the importance of providing health insurance to all of his employees. However, with IU Health and UnitedHealthcare unable to reach a new agreement for this year, Sturbaum is not sure he is giving his employees the best care.
As of Jan. 1, IU Health has decided to treat UnitedHealthcare patients as an “in-network” status. The hospital’s decision means that patients will continue to receive care from IU Health doctors and facilities, but are responsible for deductibles and co-pay fees based on the in-network standard.
If patients have any out-of-network or higher-than-anticipated fees, they are encouraged to call the number listed on the bill and get it adjusted to in-network pricing.
IU Health claims the decision will help avoid disruption of care and help reduce the patient’s overall costs, according to a press release. Sturbaum said he is not convinced.
“Everybody’s playing money games with health care, and we’re the pawns and we don’t appreciate it,” he said. “It matters to a lot of people, to the point of bankruptcy sometimes. It doesn’t seem like the hospital or UnitedHealthcare care about the citizens. Only the Affordable Care Act is actually out there trying to help speak up for the people.”
Sturbaum said he is disappointed with Indiana’s health care options. He said that it seems like United and Anthem are the only two viable options within Bloomington. While Sturbaum does not want to be limited by in-network status, other plans don’t seem
reasonable.
“Even though Anthem has a contract with IU Health for private insurance, their federal Affordable Care Act insurance is only with Monroe Hospital, so you’re disconnected from the biggest hospital,” Sturbaum said. “If you get your own insurance with them, then you get insurance with IU Health.”
But private insurance, he said, can be way too costly.
Sturbaum and his company have decided to wait out the year in hopes that IU Health and United will come to an agreement, but they are still looking at other options and pricing other plans. This aside, he still continues to have a positive attitude about where the health market is going.
“For the first time in memory, our insurance costs went down for our company,” he said. “They went down about 9 percent, and the reason they went down is because insurance companies are no longer allowed to raise or lower individuals rates or individual companies’ rates based on pre-existing condition.
“We’re having a much better experience because of some of the changes the Affordable Care Act brought us, but we didn’t totally eliminate this competition, obviously.”