Parents relieved over health care deal

WALLINGFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Many parents who were worried about how they were going to pay for their child's health care are relieved after a deal was reached between Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

For two months now, hundreds of families have been in limbo trying to figure out what steps to take if the contract dispute between Connecticut Children's Medical Center and Anthem was not resolved.

Families like Tim and Sarah O'Connell were caught in the middle of the tug of war between Anthem and Connecticut Children's Medical Center. Their son Brady was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus and needed precautionary checkups.

News of the agreement was timely.

"We were thinking maybe jumping onto her insurance, maybe switching insurance companies," Tim O'Connell said. "We had an existing condition with Brady so we didn't know if we're covered."

At issue was a reimbursement rate from Anthem for services the hospital countered, which was far below the national average.

Stressed out parents called The Office of the Healthcare Advocate.

"Every case was a crisis case. Very difficult to deal with," said Vicki Veltri, Healthcare Advocate. "Families panicking because their children had very complex health care needs."

The problem was so potentially divisive that Governor Malloy weighed in.

"I've been urging both sides to move and move until they got into a deal and they've done it," Malloy said. "There are a lot of happy parents out there right now. This is a critical, critically important hospital that does things literally not done anywhere else."

"They're great companies and both deserve what's rightfully theirs, but we were definitely held in the middle," O'Connell said. "It was difficult and stressful, and we're happy that it's over."

The O'Connell's held off scheduling a recommended MRI for Brady. Now that is set for next Monday.

Veltri tells News 8 she is looking at working with legislators about crafting a bill forcing parties in a contract dispute to keep things status quo while hammering things out, so that families don't have to deal with something like this again.