The insurer that provides health benefits for 750,000 civil servants and their dependents is amping up its legal battle to hold on to its lucrative contract with the city ahead of the Jan. 1 switchover to a lower-cost competitor.<\/p>\n
Anthem Healthcare Assurance filed suit<\/a> against the city and its chief labor negotiator Renee Campion on Friday, objecting to the process for selecting an insurer as well as the legality of the new city-funded plan, to be managed by UnitedHealthcare and EmblemHealth.\u00a0<\/p>\n Comptroller Brad Lander signed off on the United\/EmblemHealth contract last week, despite an advertising campaign from a separate advocacy group that urged him to reject what it called a \u201cdangerous\u201d plan for city workers.<\/p>\n In its new lawsuit, the second it has filed in attempt to stop the switch, Anthem also alleges that the switch to a self-funded plan \u2014\u00a0where the city and not the insurer takes on financial responsibility \u2014 is unlawful.\u00a0<\/p>\n An Anthem official, labor account manager Alison Forte Quinlan, claims in an affidavit<\/a> submitted as part of the new lawsuit that city employees could suffer consequences, calling the switch a \u201crushed transition\u201d that could imperil workers\u2019 access to treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout the time and effort devoted to that planning and setting up the procedures and systems to perform these services, there is substantial risk that essential care may be unnecessarily delayed or improperly denied,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company also alleges in its latest lawsuit that the city evaluated pricing and cost-saving data from other bidders that it allegedly never requested from Anthem.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have proudly served City of New York employees and their families for nearly 80 years, and we remain committed to protecting the access, stability, and affordability our members have come to expect,\u201d Anthem spokesperson Kersha Cartwright told THE CITY in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u200b\u200bWe remain focused on ensuring that City employees, retirees, and their families have continued access to high-quality, affordable healthcare through a process that is fair, accountable, and grounded in the law.\u201d<\/p>\n The Adams administration announced the United\/EmblemHealth deal over the summer, and it was approved by the city\u2019s unions in September<\/a>. It is projected to save taxpayers an estimated $1 billion annually as part of a health care savings pact. (Mayor Eric Adams dropped another part of the cost-cutting effort, a planned switch<\/a> to Medicare Advantage for retired city workers, after an uproar, despite winning in court<\/a> earlier this year.)<\/p>\n Anthem faces an uphill battle in its attempt to keep the lucrative contract. A Manhattan Supreme Court judge dismissed its prior case, a decision the company is now appealing. That case<\/a> is under seal, but a document obtained by Bloomberg News<\/a> suggests that Anthem made similar arguments there about allegedly unequal treatment in the bidding process.\u00a0<\/p>\n That same judge, Lyle Frank, recently declined to grant a similar petition to stop the switch brought by Hands Off NY Care<\/a>, an enigmatic advocacy group that has posted a blitz of online ads and circulated a billboard truck urging Lander to reject the contract; a hearing is scheduled for Dec. 1.<\/p>\n