(The Associated Press circulated the following story on September 21.)
NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — The city’s largest employer has a managed care company that lacks a contract with local doctors and the hospital.
That means family members of some 1,760 employees at Union Pacific Corp. must pay higher, out-of-network medical fees through United HealthCare. The employees themselves are covered under a different insurance program.
United HealthCare does not have a contract with Great Plains Regional Medical Center or any doctor in North Platte.
A contract would provide in-network, or lower cost, care for policy-holders.
“I had the need to try to locate a ‘participating physician’ and have discovered that there are none in North Platte,” said Bobbie Jones, whose husband works for the railroad. “And there are none within 100 miles of here.”
Union Pacific has 2,515 employees in North Platte, and the family members of 1,761 workers have United HealthCare as the only insurance option from the railroad.
Of Union Pacific’s other employees in North Platte, 82 are managers who do not use United HealthCare and 672 belong to the United Transportation Union, which means they can use Blue Cross Blue Shield rather than United HealthCare.
Insurance programs and costs vary across the railroad’s system, which covers the western two-thirds of the country, railroad spokesman John Bromley said. Other employees and their families, particularly in rural areas, may encounter similar situations, Bromley said.
United HealthCare has been trying to negotiate medical care contracts in North Platte, Scottsbluff and Alliance, said Geneva Dourisseau, director of labor relations for the railroad.
The chief executive officer at Great Plains Medical Center, Cindy Bradley, said the hospital and United HealthCare have tried but have not come to terms on the financial aspects of a contract.
United HealthCare executive Mike Strand said the company would like to sign a contract with a hospital, but that has not happened yet.
Starting in October, United HealthCare policy-holders will be able to receive in-network care in Ogallala, because a hospital there has contracted with the insurance company.