This week, Hartford Courant business columnist Dan Haar talks about the continuing strike at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London as well as a dispute involving United Healthcare and its coverage for Medicaid patients.
Here’s the latest on the UnitedHealthcare situation from Courant reporter Matthew Sturdevant. Click here to read more.
“UnitedHealthcare says a federal judge’s temporary injunction last week will not keep it from dropping doctors from its Medicare Advantage network in some parts of Connecticut.
The Fairfield County Medical Association and the Hartford County Medical Association won a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction on Dec. 5, which halted UnitedHealthcare from cutting its network by thousands of doctors on Feb. 1.
The insurer, however, said the court ruling applies only to those doctors who are members of either of the two associations. UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer, is combing through member lists provided by the two medical associations. About 55-to-60 percent of Connecticut doctors are in one of the two groups, according to the Fairfield association.
For other doctors who are scheduled to be dropped early next year, there’s no reprieve.”
Meanwhile, workers at Lawrence + Memorial went on strike on Nov. 28. The union representing the workers wants Lawrence + Memorial to stop its plans to move certain services from the hospital campus to satellite locations.