When Kayla Kjelshus gave birth to her first child, the infant spent seven days in the neonatal intensive care unit, known as the NICU. This stressful medical experience was followed by an equally stressful financial one. Because of an obscure health insurance policy called the "birthday rule," Kjelshus and her husband, Mikkel, were hit with an unexpected charge of more than $200,000 for the NICU stay.
Thousands of Californians are learning that they will have to foot a bigger portion of their medical bills if they want to continue seeing their doctor since Dignity Health severed its contract with Anthem Blue Cross of California on July 15.
Prairie Business asked questions of several business professionals in the region about their corporate communities, how they go about attracting new talent and what they do to retain employees, among other questions. Here's how Kelsey Roth, vice president of Human Resources at Blue Cross Blue Shield North Dakota, responded to the magazine's questions:
Autumn Stultz helped fundamentally change Missouri. That may seem like hyperbole, but the single mother from Springfield was one of three plaintiffs in a landmark legal case in which the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that a 2020 ballot item expanding Medicaid was valid — and that the state has to sign up thousands of Missourians who constitute a segment of the working poor.
A contract spat between Anthem Blue Cross and Dignity Heath has left thousands of members scrambling to find new providers. The contract between the two firms expired July 15 after negotiations failed. That means that as of July 16, Dignity facilities no longer coordinate with Anthem health insurance plans for members enrolled in Commercial PPO, EPO, HMO and POS benefit plans as well as some Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans, Anthem said.
Clover Health has been on the radar of the meme stock crowd lately. Shares have a high short interest and have been the target of a recent short seller report. They are also down 50% since coming public through Chamath Palihapitiya's SPAC in January.