Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia and Piedmont Healthcare have reached a deal, Gov. Nathan Deal said on Tuesday.
The governor in a tweet called it a “handshake deal.”
Deal on Tuesday tweeted that he would "initiate executive action" if the two companies did not resolve their dispute by "close of business" Tuesday.
The two companies have been at odds for months over their contract renewal. The rift broke open when the contract expired April 1 without a deal. At issue is how much money Blue Cross will agree to pay Piedmont for its services.
When the contract ended, about 2 million Georgians who had Blue Cross insurance and the ability to see a Piedmont provider were suddenly out of network with Piedmont. About 500,000 of those people were recent Piedmont patients, seeing one of its health care providers within the past 18 months.
Being out of network means much higher out-of-pocket costs for a patient.
Deal is in a special position. He leads not only the state, but state employees; and nearly 600,000 state workers, teachers, retirees and dependents have Blue Cross as part of the state’s health plan.
State officials have said that “executive action” could mean a number of things, including declaring a special open-enrollment period for state employees with Blue Cross to switch insurance companies. Blue Cross did not immediately respond about whether it agreed that the governor had that authority.
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