NASHVILLE – Blocked in his effort to obtain the information directly, a Tennessee lawmaker wants state Comptroller Justin Wilson to see if Chattanooga-based BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is “properly and legally” carrying out its responsibilities in administering state employees’ health insurance plan.
In a hand-delivered letter to Wilson’s office on Tuesday, House Government Operations Committee Chairman Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville, requested the comptroller to “undertake an audit to determine whether [BlueCross] is properly and legally performing its contractual and fiduciary duties.
“Among other things to be determined at your discretion, I request that you perform a significant sample survey of medical claims paid in 2018 to ensure that the amounts paid are reasonable,” Daniel’s letter continues. “Also, I request that you perform a similar survey to determine if there is any difference between amounts actually paid in 2018 by [BlueCross] to the medical providers and the amounts that are removed from [state] Plan trusts accounts.”
Tennessee state Rep. Martin DanielBlueCross is a third-party administrator of state employees’ health plan.
After the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration notified BlueCross, Cigna Health Insurance and Optum Health last week that it planned to release the information to Daniel, all three filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court in Nashville seeking to block it.