UMMC to drop top Blue Cross & Blue Shield insurance

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi’s largest hospital says it will stop accepting policies from the state’s largest private insurer, citing contract dissatisfaction.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center tells Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi that it will stop accepting policies after June 30.

The medical center has hospitals in Jackson, Grenada and Lexington. It says it can no longer abide a contract in which Blue Cross makes unilateral changes that cost the hospitals money.

Medical center officials say they want a different contract.

Blue Cross spokeswoman Meredith Bailess says the medical center, not the insurer, is at fault. She says the medical center doesn’t respond to the insurer’s focus on health outcomes and controlling costs.

Insurance for Mississippi public and school employees, covered by a Blue Cross-administered plan, won’t be affected.

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