Cone Versus Blue Cross

OK, so I saw the full page ad today that the Cone Hospital Health System bought from the Rhino Times asking readers to call, e-mail, or send a “coupon” to the president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC. They want us to tell Blue Cross President and CEO Bob Greczyn to “negotiate a fair agreement with Moses Cone Health System." But I have to confess. I’m just not feeling sorry for Cone Hospital right now. And I feel like the Cone system is kind of blackmailing Blue Cross covered folk. Seems they are saying, “look, you help us charge you more or we will make life very inconvenient for you.” I never did like this city wide monopoly of health care. High Point Regional is looking better every day to me (well, except that I am covered by Blue Cross of South Carolina so I don’t even know if this spat applies to me). For me the consumer this situation seems like Wal-Mart telling me that I need to pressure HP to charge Wal-Mart less, or Wal-Mart will stop selling HP computers. Except that in this hypothetical case I can buy maybe a Dell or an E-Machine. When it comes to Greensboro hospitals there are no longer any options. Cone has a monopoly. So it seems to me that in this little spat between Blue Cross and Cone I should be pulling for Blue Cross. I mean, folks are always complaining about the cost of health care, and Blue Cross, by limiting the amount Cone can charge them (and us) for a procedure, is not only looking after their own interests, but looking after ours as well. Cone has always struck me as a little too money hungry. I mean, the few times we’ve really had to use the system it seemed the bill collectors were calling me before I even got home, and certainly before the bill had cleared the insurance company! And word is from my friends that getting money from Cone for services rendered to them is like pulling teeth, if I may use a medical metaphor, or maybe like extracting an appendix, or whatever. Help me out here people. Why should I be pulling for Cone? What am I missing?