Gov. Chris Christie's administration has denied a hospital group's appeal seeking to halt a new alliance formed by New Jersey's largest health insurer.
The denial means Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield's OMNIA network will not be shuttered for now, though the roughly dozen hospitals seeking to block the alliance are promising further appeals.
Halting the alliance now, as consumers already have begun to buy plans for 2016, would cause “upheaval and disruption” in the state's health insurance marketplace, according to acting Banking and Insurance Commissioner Richard Badolato.
“While it is unclear what, if any, harm would be experienced by the Hospital Group as they have only advanced speculative scenarios, it is clear that granting a stay and removing the Department's approval of the OMNIA Network would cause significant upheaval and disruption to the New Jersey marketplace and its consumers,” Badolato wrote Monday in the 40-page reply.
The hospitals seeking an appeal include Capital Health, Virtua Health and Trinitas Regional Medical Center, among others.
