IFF: Kootenai Health network self serving

In his column this week, executive director Wayne Hoffman of Idaho Freedom Foundation examines the Kootenai Care Network, which limits medical choices for some:

Some Idahoans are finding out this month that they can no longer see their regular medical practitioners, and it’s an Idaho government entity that’s to blame.

Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene is a hospital district, with a publicly-elected governing board. The hospital district hasn’t levied a tax in about 20 years, but it remains a government entity. The district created a new  limited liability corporation, called the Kootenai Care Network, which shares its address with the main hospital campus. (The state constitution gives broad authority to public hospitals to enter into a wide range of corporate structures and partnerships).

And now, Coeur d’Alene-area residents who have Blue Cross insurance are finding out that they’ll only be able to use doctors and other practitioners who are on the Kootenai Care Network provider list. Kootenai Health’s hospital is, of course, on the list. Northwest Specialty Hospital, a highly-respected nearby physician-owned hospital, is not. And if a Blue Cross patient chooses to use an out-of-network hospital, such as Northwest Specialty Hospital, she could be hit with up to $50,000 of out-of-network charges. More here.

Thoughts?