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This time next year, Lehigh Valley arid Berks employers are likely to have two Blues plans to choose from when considering health-care insurance for their employees.
For 60 years, Pennsylvania Blue Shield, a Highmark company, and Capital Blue Cross have worked in tandem to provide health insurance services to subscribers in 21 counties in Central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley.
Pittsburgh-based Highmark provides coverage of physician services under the name Pennsylvania Blue Shield in the Lehigh Valley and Central Pennsylvania while Camp Hill-based Capital Blue Cross provides hospital, outpatient care and prescription services.
While the two had been talking about a possible merger for several years, in May, they announced they were going to go their separate ways and become competitors. But in July, they said they were still talking about ways they could 'continue to work together.
Last week, Highmark said that the talks were going nowhere and that it was terminating its relationship with Capital Blue Cross as of April 1.
Karen Early, a spokeswoman for Highmark, says that nothing specific happened that made Highmark decide to end discussions now.
"It's just that with any negotiations,'' she says, "you...