![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764610665564.png\")
Matt All, president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (Photo by BCBS of Kansas)<\/p>\nMatt All, president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (Photo by BCBS of Kansas)<\/p>\n
BY\u00a0MORGAN CHILSON<\/a> TOPEKA \u2014 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and Topeka\u2019s St. Francis hospital have failed to reach a contract agreement, leaving insurance customers out of network beginning Jan. 1 for one of Topeka\u2019s major health care systems.<\/p>\n Officials with both organizations say discussions are ongoing. The current contract ends Dec. 31.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re having productive talks,\u201d said Matt All, president and CEO of BCBS of Kansas. \u201cIt\u2019s a little complicated because they have an out-of-state owner, so we\u2019re not just talking to people here on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not in the business of making predictions, but our expectation is that we\u2019ll work this out and that they\u2019ll be in network,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Topeka\u2019s St. Francis campus is owned by Ardent Health, which manages operations, and the University of Kansas Health System. Ardent is based in Brentwood, Tennessee.<\/p>\n People covered by BCBS of Kansas have been posting social media messages, upset about the possible loss of their doctors.<\/p>\n \u201cI refuse to abandon my primary care provider whom I trust with my care, so Blue Cross Blue Shield just lost another customer,\u201d said Topekan Carol Baldwin on her personal Facebook page.<\/p>\n In an emailed statement to Kansas Reflector, hospital officials said: \u201cThe University of Kansas Health System St. Francis Campus is committed to protecting access to high-quality care for our community. We have made repeated efforts to engage directly with senior decision-makers at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and remain committed to negotiating in good faith to reach a fair resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n Rising costs in health care are causing the challenge in reaching agreement, both sides said. For All, the discussions are indicative of broader problems throughout the health care system.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeking an agreement that reimburses St. Francis Campus at rates consistent with rising costs due to inflation and supply chain pressures,\u201d the hospital\u2019s statement said. \u201cEquitable reimbursement rates are critical to supporting the high-quality care that our patients deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n All said BCBS, which is a mutual nonprofit that is created to benefit its members, must negotiate so that reimbursements to the hospital are reasonable and don\u2019t translate into premiums that members can\u2019t afford.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the whole 19 years I\u2019ve been with Blue Cross, and basically our whole history, we\u2019ve had every hospital in our service area in network, and we want St. Francis in network,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Changes needed<\/p>\n There are many good things about the country\u2019s health care, All said, but the availability of resources isn\u2019t evenly spread out.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have too many people that can\u2019t afford coverage,\u201d All said. \u201cThe big problem in American health care that\u2019s existed for as long as any of us have been thinking about this is that it doesn\u2019t control costs very well, and so there\u2019s this steady rise in costs over the decades, and some decades are faster than others.\u201d<\/p>\n For the years 2024 through 2033, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u00a0predicts that national health expenditures<\/a>\u00a0will grow 5.8%.<\/p>\n \u201cAcross the industry, in every market, whether you\u2019re talking about commercial plans, the public programs and so forth, costs are rising really quickly right now,\u201d All said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen it in our plan and when you combine that with possibly losing some of the subsidies in the (Affordable Care Act) market, you\u2019re going to have some consumers that are just going to be priced out of the market.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat should be unacceptable to us,\u201d All added. \u201cIn 2025, in a nation as prosperous as ours, we should be able to make sure that everybody can afford good health care.\u201d<\/p>\n The health care system needs a major overhaul, All said, but having what he called an \u201cadult conversation\u201d on the topic is difficult.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to really talk about the root causes of higher costs and the toll that takes, but also the consequences of controlling costs, because there\u2019s another side to this,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fact that we\u2019re able to have two beautiful hospitals in Topeka, two great hospitals in Wichita, a beautiful hospital in Lawrence, and you can actually go there and get care \u2014 that is partly because we fund our health care system really lavishly.\u201d<\/p>\n But that system isn\u2019t working if people don\u2019t have access to it, All said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we solve the cost problem, we can solve all of the other problems,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other problems are just technical. At that point, we have to get the cost problem solved, and we just haven\u2019t been willing to do it yet as a country.\u201d<\/p>\n Health expenses<\/p>\n
Kansas Reflector<\/a><\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764610620731.png\")
Topeka\u2019s St. Francis hospital system and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas are struggling to reach agreement, which could leave insurance customers out of network. (Submitted)<\/p>\n