Medicare’s fall enrollment window and a major hospital network change are about to reach the same central Ohio households at almost the same moment. Humana members who get their care at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center or The James Cancer Center will be out of network before that enrollment window even opens. The order of those two events is the whole story, because it means the network is gone first and the chance to respond comes second.
Humana says the agreement ends effective October 1, 2026
The insurer said so on its own newsroom, in a statement dated July 2, 2026: “LOUISVILLE, Ky. (July 2, 2026) – The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, The James Cancer Center, and OSU affiliated physicians will be out-of-network for Humana members, beginning October 1, 2026. Affected Humana Medicare Advantage and Humana Healthy Horizons Medicaid members have been notified of this network change.” Its accompanying FAQ puts the same point in one line: “The agreement between The Ohio State University and Humana ends effective October 1, 2026.”
Two groups are named there, and they are not the same population living the same situation. Humana Medicare Advantage members are one. Humana Healthy Horizons Medicaid members are the other. Both were notified, and both face the identical effective date, even though the coverage sitting behind their cards works differently.
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Ohio State still lists 16 Humana plans as going out of network
As of August 6, 2026, the health system’s own page on the insurance it accepts still carries the change as active, under the heading “Effective October 1, 2026 / Out-of-Network with OSUWMC:” followed by 16 named Humana plans. Among them are Humana Healthy Horizons Medicaid, Humana Gold Plus (HMO) and HumanaChoice (PPO).
That live listing, rather than a headline from July, is the thing worth checking. No settlement, rescission or extension exists as of that date. Disputes between large health systems and large insurers do sometimes resolve late, occasionally within days of an effective date, and when they do, the provider’s own insurance page is usually where the reversal appears first.
The scope Humana described is also wider than two buildings. Its statement names the Wexner Medical Center, The James Cancer Center and OSU affiliated physicians, which means a member who is treated at a different hospital but sees an Ohio State physician sits inside this change as well. If the only thing you have checked so far is where you would be admitted, you have checked half of it.
Humana says it remains open to renewing the contract
The insurer has not framed the termination as the end of the conversation. Answering its own FAQ question about why an agreement has not been reached, Humana wrote: “Humana remains open to good-faith discussions with The Ohio State University. We are open to renewing the contract…” That is an open door. It is not a signed deal, and no member can build a plan around it.
Both things are true at once, and holding them together is the honest position. The termination is confirmed in writing by the insurer and still posted by the provider, and a renewal before October 1 remains possible. Plan for the first. Watch for the second.
Notice what Humana has actually committed to in writing. The date is stated flatly, twice. The outcome of further talks is described only as openness to good-faith discussion. Those are two very different kinds of statement, and only the first is something a household can schedule around.
The figures neither Humana nor Ohio State has published
Some numbers attached to this story in circulation do not come from either party. Humana has not published a count of affected members; no member figure appears in its statement or its FAQ. Neither organization has named a continuity-of-care duration either, so any specific number of days you may see is not coming from Humana or from Ohio State. Where a claim cannot be verified from the public record, the responsible move is to leave it out rather than repeat it, and both of those belong in that category.
The absence matters practically, not just editorially. If you are in active treatment, the length of any transition protection is precisely the thing you need, and it is precisely the thing neither party has stated publicly.
What October 15 through December 7 can and cannot fix
Medicare’s annual open enrollment period runs October 15 through December 7, and Medicare’s guidance on joining a plan lays out that window. For a Humana Medicare Advantage member whose doctors are at Wexner or The James, that is the stretch in which a plan change for the following year can be made. Note the sequence, though: the network change takes effect October 1, two weeks before the window opens.
So the useful steps here are narrow and tied to this specific contract. Confirm whether your exact plan name appears on Ohio State’s out-of-network list, because the page names 16 specific plans rather than making a blanket statement. Check that same page again in late September, since it is the live document that would reflect a renewal. And if you are receiving treatment at The James, ask Humana directly what applies to your case instead of relying on a published transition period, because neither Humana nor Ohio State has published one.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
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