UPDATE: GMH backtracks after cutting off, accusing insurance company of failing to pay its bills, again

UPDATE: At 5:29 p.m., Monday, August 19, GMH provided an update (without details) stating effective immediately GMH is once again accepting TakeCare.

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Original story:

Another GovGuam crisis is brewing just as the one involving schools winds down. Monday afternoon Guam Memorial Hospital announced the island’s only public hospital no longer will accept TakeCare insurance.

If you are a TakeCare subscriber, you still can be treated at GMH (no one can be turned away at its emergency room), but you will be billed for the care you receive personally. “This means patients subscribed with TakeCare will need to request reimbursement directly from their TakeCare insurance provider,” the GMH news release making the announcement states.

Kandit has reached out to the insurance company to verify whether it will honor plan-approved claims its insured customers make after being treated at GMH. We have not received a response as of the publication of this story.

According to the GMH news release, TakeCare has been withholding payments on clean or uncontested claims despite the hospital’s repeated efforts to get TakeCare’s leadership to pay what the company owes the hospital.

“As a consequence, GMHA is forced to make the unfortunate, but necessary decision that it can no longer accept TakeCare insurance,” the news release states. “For services rendered after the date of this release, TakeCare subscribers will be billed directly as ‘self-pay’ patients.”

This is not the first time this has happened, nor is GMH the only medical provider that has cut off TakeCare in the past. The company has a history of alleged financial discrepancy with timely payments of clean claims GMH makes on bills for medical care received by TakeCare-insured patients.

“TakeCare’s continued delays and refusal to make legally mandated payments on time falls not only on its subscribers but directly on GMHA’s ability to meet the critical healthcare needs for all of Guam,” the GMH news release states.