As a business leader in our community, I see the huge impact that our local health systems have daily on the lives of many. Not only are health systems the foundation of care and wellbeing, but they are economic drivers that empower our local businesses, schools, and neighborhoods to thrive and support you, our friends and family.

As I’ve followed the ongoing negotiation between St. Mary’s Health Care System and Cigna, I’m disheartened, but not surprised, that a major health insurance company would fail to understand the importance of St. Mary’s in our community, and instead focus on furthering their own bottom line despite their lucrative profit margins of-late.

Cigna is willing to jeopardize patients’ access to the physicians so many of us know and trust. If Cigna cannot reach an agreement with us by August 15, Cigna users who are patients at St. Mary’s will be forced to seek care with alternative providers — doctors or specialists who do not know their health history.

St. Mary’s has served this community for 116 years and now needs this community’s help to hold Cigna accountable and ensure St. Mary’s has the financial fortitude to continue serving for years to come.

As a beneficiary of St. Mary’s presence in our community, I urge everyone with Cigna insurance to call the number on the back of your insurance card. Please share with Cigna the importance of keeping St. Mary’s in-network. If Cigna forces St. Mary’s out of network, the relationship between patients, their physicians, and St. Mary’s trusted health care services will be broken.

It is not right for Cigna to put profits over the needs of patients and weaken the financial viability of a critical healthcare provider in Northeast Georgia. 

Dessa Morris

Board Chair, St. Mary’s Health Care System