Exclusive | Anthem Blue Cross under fire for refusing to help NYC crack down on soaring health care costs, new report shows

An inaugural report by the New York City Health Department aimed at cracking down on sky-high prices hospitals charge patients has gaping holes in it because the Big Apple’s largest public-employee insurer refuses to turn over records, officials said.The 263-page report quietly released Friday through the agency’s new Office of Healthcare Accountability says hospital prices are wildly inconsistent.The study focused on payments made through the city’s health care provider, Anthem Blue Cross, and not private-sector insurance plans.The city’s GHI-Comprehensive Benefits Plan through Anthem paid on average $45,150 for inpatient services last fiscal year at New York’s top 10 hospital systems, the report said.The highest prices for full in-patient treatment were at New York-Presbyterian ($92,727) and Montefiore Medical Center ($83,573), while Stony Brook University Hospital was the lowest ($36,876).The report noted the city spent $3.3 billion paying for employee hospital care during the fiscal year ending June 30, and half went to three hospital systems: Northwell Health ($759 million), New York-Presbyterian ($485 million) and NYU Langone Health ($443 million).New York-Presbyterian had the highest prices for 11 of 12 inpatient procedures analyzed and 14 of 27 outpatient procedures, the report said.Prices at hospital systems ranged widely, from $940 to $12,000 for a colonoscopy, and $7,000 to $58,000 for a cesarean-section delivery.And the city is now spending more on hospital outpatient care than inpatient.The report cited Anthem — which the city pays a whopping $3 billion yearly to provide insurance to roughly 900,000 employees — for refusing to provide the OFA the full costs of health care at hospitals and other data it needs to determine whether these prices are warranted.Anthem claimed releasing some of the pricing data would violate confidentiality agreements it has with hospitals that predate a 2021 federal rule requiring hospitals to disclose their pr...