Just hours before their contract was scheduled to expire, Sparrow Hospital and Blue Cross Blue Shield reached an agreement that will continue coverage for 67,000 mid-Michigan people.
This is not a settlement, but rather a continuation agreement. Blue Cross will continue to cover Sparrow patients for six months while contract talks continue. Neither side will give any details of the agreement.
Sparrow has said that it is loosing $2 to $3 million a year on Blue Cross patients and has asked the insurer to increase payments by 9.4 percent. Blue Cross says the hospital's losses are from Medicaid and Medicare patients and wants to give only three percent more.
