David Lerman, a lawyer in Berkeley, Calif., changed health plans this year, only to learn that his new insurer has no contract with the main medical provider in his community.
Anthem Blue Cross of California, one of the state’s largest health insurers, is battling Sutter Health over how much it should pay to care for tens of thousands of people it insures in Northern California. Sutter operates 24 hospitals in the region and lists about 5,000 doctors in its network.
“It’s not the peace of mind I thought I was buying to have the entire Sutter network — which is the biggest game in Northern California — be out of network,” says Lerman, whose family is insured through his wife’s job as a California State University professor.
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