Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield has agreed to pay $100 million to the State of New Jersey as part of a settlement regarding claims the insurer had made false statements prior to winning a contract to manage state’s public worker health plans and then disregarded an accompanying contractual provision.
But after the announcement was made by state Attorney General Matt Platkin during a press conference on Friday, HBCBS fired back with a strong statement that Platkin was mischaracterizing the charges with “over the top” rhetoric for political gain.
“The outgoing Attorney General’s statements continue a disturbing pattern of significantly mischaracterizing and distorting facts to falsely allege intentional wrongdoing where none exists,” Horizon said in a statement on Friday.
“This has never been anything more than a straightforward contract dispute -– one that Horizon tried to resolve in good faith more than four years ago in the same way it has resolved similar disagreements over the course of our long and fruitful partnership with the state: through a negotiated reimbursement.”
The statement continued: “The Attorney General instead chose to waste time and taxpayer resources to achieve the same outcome and now tries to justify his decision to turn a contract dispute into a media circus by hurling loaded, false and dangerous accusations at Horizon for his personal and political benefit.
“This is particularly disappointing as Horizon entered this agreement in the spirit of good...
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield has agreed to pay $100 million to the State of New Jersey as part of a settlement regarding claims the insurer had made false statements prior to winning a contract ...