Anthem Blue Cross Agrees to Release Withheld Healthcare Data After NYC Pressure Campaign

Edited by: Fern Sidman

In a significant turnaround for healthcare transparency in New York City, Anthem Blue Cross, the city’s largest public-employee health insurer, has agreed to release critical pricing data previously withheld from a major city report. The move could pave the way for billions in potential savings for New Yorkers and marks a major win for transparency advocates and city officials.

As first revealed by The New York Post, Anthem’s reversal follows mounting public and political pressure — triggered by the Post’s recent reporting on a deeply flawed report issued by the city’s new Office of Healthcare Accountability (OHA). The agency was created in 2023 to analyze and expose the wildly inconsistent prices New York City hospitals charge for identical medical procedures.

The original 263-page OHA report, released last month, examined how much city taxpayers spend through Anthem to cover public employees’ healthcare costs. Its findings were staggering: colonoscopy procedures ranged from $940 to $12,000, while cesarean-section deliveries varied from $7,000 to $58,000, depending on the hospital, as per the information provided in The New York Post report.  Yet the report — meant to shine a light on opaque billing practices — was riddled with gaping holes due to Anthem’s refusal to disclose key data, undermining the report’s conclusions and fueling public outrage.

Anthem’s sudden decision to cooperate came after a virtual meeting Friday with City Councilwoman Julie Menin (D-Manhattan), who sponsored the legislation that created the OHA. Menin, a longtime advocate for healthcare transparency, had publicly excoriated Anthem for what she called “a slap in the face to the City of New York,” as reported by The New York Post.

“We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with Anthem to release this missing healthcare transparency data,” said Menin. “This will once and for all allow New Yorkers to know what hospitals are charging for all medical procedures and enable the city to potentially save upwards of $2 billion a year by harnessing its purchasing power to drive down costs.”

With the new data in hand, the OHA is expected to publish a revised and expanded version of its report, one that will offer city officials a far more comprehensive picture of the pricing landscape. The New York Post report said that this is expected to strengthen New York’s negotiating power with hospitals and improve the cost-effectiveness of healthcare spending for the city’s approximately 900,000 public employees and their families.

Anthem had initially refused to release portions of its data, citing confidentiality agreements with hospitals that predated both a 2021 federal transparency mandate and New York City’s 2023 law requiring price disclosures. The insurer argued that releasing the data would violate those long-standing contracts. However, city officials — and now Anthem itself — agree that those concerns are no longer valid under the current legal framework.

“We believe in pricing transparency and will continue to work with our partners within city government, organized labor, and our provider community,” said Victor DeStefano, president of Anthem’s New York plan, in a statement to The New York Post. “We are investigating all avenues for continued savings for the employees of New York City and their families.”

Despite denying any legal wrongdoing, Anthem now acknowledges that releasing the full data set will “enhance the value of future OHA reports” — a major pivot from the insurer’s earlier resistance.

The original OHA report had already painted a chaotic picture of pricing inequity across New York hospitals, even with incomplete data. Routine medical procedures varied by thousands of dollars across facilities, often without any clear correlation to quality of care. For example, the same surgical intervention might cost five times more depending solely on the hospital’s location or billing structure.

The lack of price transparency has long enabled hospitals to inflate charges with little accountability, while the city — as a massive purchaser of healthcare — has historically lacked the leverage or data to push back, The New York Post reported. The OHA was created precisely to correct this imbalance, and The New York Post’s reporting has now helped accelerate that mission.

With Anthem’s new cooperation, city officials say they are preparing to reissue the OHA report in the coming weeks — this time with the full scope of data that could be used to negotiate lower hospital fees, refine city budgeting, and inform public workers about how their benefits are being spent.

This also sets a precedent for other insurers who may still be reluctant to release full pricing details under the federal and local transparency mandates, according to The New York Post report.

Councilwoman Menin and transparency advocates say they hope this is only the beginning.

“This victory shows what’s possible when public pressure and strong legislation align,” one official close to the negotiations told The New York Post. “The days of hospitals charging whatever they want without oversight are coming to an end.”

What began as a flawed and underpowered report may now become a watershed moment for healthcare accountability in New York City — thanks in large part to public scrutiny, persistent journalism, and the tireless advocacy of officials such as Menin.

As reported by The New York Post, the average cost of inpatient care across New York’s top ten hospital systems was $45,150 last fiscal year. But the details tell a more alarming story: New York-Presbyterian charged an eye-watering $92,727 per inpatient treatment, and Montefiore Medical Center followed closely at $83,573.

While at the other end of the spectrum, Stony Brook University Hospital billed just $36,876 on average.

These discrepancies — for essentially similar levels of care — are at the heart of a growing demand by city officials and public-sector unions to rein in opaque and bloated medical pricing that is draining taxpayer funds.

Anthem’s about-face comes in the wake of intense scrutiny by elected officials, labor leaders, and media outlets, especially The New York Post, which first reported the incomplete state of the city’s OHA report and the insurer’s refusal to release key data.

NYC Comptroller Brad Lander played a decisive role, firing off a strongly worded letter last week to Anthem demanding full disclosure of pricing data. According to The New York Post report, Lander’s office threatened to launch a formal investigation if the insurer continued to stonewall. “The office is prepared to exercise its investigative powers to get to the bottom of this,” said Oluwatona Campbell, a spokesperson for the Comptroller. “New Yorkers deserve hospitals that prioritize care over profits and a healthcare system that’s transparent, equitable, and worthy of their trust.”

Anthem’s eventual cooperation now enables the OHA to issue a revised version of its original 263-page report — this time with comprehensive numbers that will allow city negotiators to push for fairer rates and identify facilities engaging in excessive price inflation.

City labor leaders have long argued that transparency is the key to cost control, and they welcomed the new data release as a step toward long-overdue reform.

“All along we’ve said that access to transparent data allows us to be better consumers,”  Henry Garrido, executive director of District Council 37, the city’s largest municipal employee union, told The New York Post. “We appreciate Anthem doing the right thing and working with us to release the data for city worker healthcare costs.”

These sentiments were echoed by 32BJ SEIU, the powerful building-services union, whose prior analyses were cited by The New York Post in 2022. Those studies concluded that the city could save taxpayers up to $2 billion annually by auditing how much municipal workers are paying for care and making targeted recommendations to reduce overcharging.

The cost data now revealed confirms what many have long suspected: hospitals across New York City charge vastly different prices for the same services, even when treating patients insured under the same plan, The New York Post reported. These discrepancies lack transparency, consistency, and any clear link to quality of care, specialists, or outcomes.

For public employees and the taxpayers who fund their insurance, these inconsistencies represent more than just inefficiency — they’re a budgetary time bomb, compounding the already high cost of living in New York and threatening to divert critical funds from other essential city services.

With the data finally in hand, city officials and the OHA hope to negotiate smarter contracts with hospitals, increase price competition, and educate municipal employees about where they can receive care at more reasonable rates, as was detailed in The New York Post report.

The city’s revised OHA report is now in development, and officials are expected to release it within weeks. The New York Post reported indicated that once published, the new data is expected to inform budgetary policy, strengthen price oversight, and serve as a model for transparency efforts in other municipalities struggling with similar healthcare cost crises.

Meanwhile, city officials, including Councilwoman Julie Menin, who spearheaded the legislation creating the OHA, continue to stress the need for proactive pricing reform. “With full access to this data, we can finally begin to confront the inefficiencies and inequities that have plagued our healthcare system,” Menin said following Anthem’s decision, as previously reported by The New York Post.

In a city where public workers form the backbone of education, sanitation, transportation, and emergency services, the need for affordable and transparent healthcare is not just a fiscal concern — it is a moral imperative. Thanks to sustained pressure, investigative reporting, and grassroots advocacy, New York is now one step closer to building a healthcare system that works for everyone — not just the bottom lines of elite hospital networks.