Everett Clinic's spat with Premera 'lifts the curtain' on price increases
EVERETT — The Everett Clinic’s dominant market share in Snohomish County allowed it to charge Premera — and patients — the highest rates in the state, according to legal filings in a case that recently came before the state Court of Appeals.
An opinion issued this month in The Everett Clinic’s favor says the clinic was also legally OK to start charging 50% higher rates when it acquired Eastside Family Medicine in the Bellevue area.
And it has at least one attorney, Emily Brice, wondering, “If the courts and insurance companies can’t stop price increases, then who can?”
The lawsuit, titled Everett Clinic v. Premera, “lifts the curtain on what’s behind some of the cost increases,” said Brice, senior attorney and policy advisor with Northwest Health Law Advocates. Higher negotiated rates can hit patients directly as coinsurance, and then can trickle down to higher premiums.
https://www.heraldnet.com/news/everett-clinics-spat-with-premera-lifts-the-curtain-on-price-increases/
