Hospital comes out wearing white hat

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield customers can breath a little easier, now that the health insurance carrier and Carson-Tahoe Hospital have reached an agreement for a new contract.

The agreement extends for four years, so we can expect they won't be held hostage again anytime soon by negotiations clearly about cost and not about health care.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, one of the largest and oldest health-benefits companies in the country, came out looking like the bad guy in this shootout.

Perhaps our bias is with the local hospital, but when an insurance company tells 1,400 members in Carson City they will have to drive 30 or more miles to Barton Memorial Hospital or Washoe Medical Center for any elective care, it's pretty hard to be sympathetic with the insurance company.

Our first sympathies are for those customers, and that should have been Anthem's priority. At no time did we hear a convincing argument from Anthem about how its stiff-necked stance with Carson-Tahoe Hospital was going to benefit those customers.

On the other hand, Carson-Tahoe Hospital comes out wearing the white hat.

"Our focus has always been on our patients and making certain they could access health care locally," said Ed Epperson, the hospital's chief executive officer. "We are very satisfied with the spirit of our discussions and the resolution of our different perspectives, for the benefit of the community."

Of course, Carson-Tahoe Hospital wants the business. And, because we aren't privy to the specifics of the financial arrangement between the two, it's possible Anthem's hardball negotiations managed to get it a better deal, helping it hold down costs to its customers.

So we're happy they reached an agreement and the matter is settled. But we'll still carry away the impression only one side was more interested in the health of the patients than the size of the bill.