Two letters set off a chain of events last month that still has thousands of state Medicare recipients shaken up, hospital administrators scratching their heads and West Virginia lawmakers fighting mad. On Dec. 5, Thomas Health System president and CEO Steve Dexter received a letter from the Medicare Advantage provider Humana saying Humana would terminate its contract with St. Francis Hospital effective Feb. 1, 2012. One day later, an identical letter arrived at Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston. It was such a surprise that the CEO didn't think the letters were genuine.
