Health insurance crisis probed on WCPI

The ongoing standoff between Tennessee’s largest hospital corporation and its largest private health insurance company will be one of the subjects examined on this weekend’s edition of “Viewpoints – the View from Here” on public radio WCPI, 91.3 FM.

River Park Hospital, part of HCA-affiliate Tri-Star Health System, is one of the state’s healthcare providers battling BlueCross BlueShield over continuation of its preferred-provider contract. Upwards of 900,000 Tennesseans, including many in Warren County, are covered under the cost-containment plan that expired Dec. 31.

The lapse of the contract – which parties had hoped to avoid until negotiations collapsed in early December – leaves BlueCross BlueShield enrollees with scaled-down benefits and higher out-of-pocket costs when they receive treatment in HCA facilities.

River Park Hospital CEO Steve Otto will be an interview guest on WCPI’s public affairs discussion program “Viewpoints” airing at 6:05 p.m. today and at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The one-hour broadcast will focus on the health insurance controversy as well as other topics of general interest, including the escalating tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons development and the possibility of war with Iraq.

“Viewpoints,” produced by WCPI volunteer Bill Zechman and co-anchored by Col. Thomas B Vaughn, invites Warren County citizens to join in weekly discussions of major public issues impacting the local community, the state and the nation.