Becker’s Hospital Review counted 29 health systems that have dropped or are set to drop Medicare Advantage contracts in 2026, an update the trade publication posted on September 4. The number matters less as a single statistic than as a signal: providers and insurers are still fighting over Medicare Advantage terms well into the year, and some of those fights land directly on a plan member’s ability to keep seeing their own doctor. A hospital system leaving a plan’s network doesn’t cancel anyone’s Medicare coverage, but it can quietly change which doctors and facilities are covered starting a specific date.
A running count, not a final score
Becker’s has tracked hospital-insurer breaks over Medicare Advantage since 2023, and the September 4 update carries its own caution about how to read the number. In the publication’s own words: “This is not an exhaustive list and includes contract breaks effective in or announced in 2026. It will continue to be updated this year.” That means 29 is a floor, not a final tally, and it lumps together breaks that already took effect with ones scheduled for later this year or for 2027.
The scale behind the number is real, though. Medicare Advantage now covers more than half of eligible Medicare beneficiaries, according to Becker’s reporting, so when a hospital system exits a plan’s network, a larger share of the Medicare population can be affected than would have been the case a decade ago, when most beneficiaries were still in Original Medicare. Becker’s has also published a separate running list covering 2025’s contract breaks, a reminder that this isn’t a one-year spike but a pattern the publication has been tracking across multiple enrollment cycles.
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Why hospitals say they’re walking away
Becker’s reporting points to two overlapping causes behind the wave. In some cases, hospital systems are the ones ending the relationship, citing prior authorization denials that delay or block care and reimbursement they say runs too slow or too low. In other cases, the insurer terminates the contract instead. Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center falls into that second group: Humana notified the health system it was ending their agreement effective October 1, even as OSU said it remains interested in renewing. Humana has said it is open to continued discussions before the contract lapses. Becker’s list includes both patterns repeatedly: Boise-based St. Luke’s Health System and Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic both dropped or narrowed Medicare Advantage insurer relationships this year, while cancer-focused systems like Tampa’s Moffitt Cancer Center exited specific insurers’ plans one at a time rather than all at once.
Several of the 29 are deadlines, not finished breaks
A meaningful share of the systems on Becker’s list haven’t actually left a network yet — they’ve set a date tied to a condition. Zanesville, Ohio-based Genesis Healthcare System told Aetna, UnitedHealthcare, Medical Mutual and CareSource that its contracts end at the close of 2026 without “fair new agreements” in place, language that leaves room for a last-minute deal. New York City’s NewYork-Presbyterian’s Medicare Advantage agreement with UnitedHealthcare is scheduled to lapse October 1, after both sides had already pushed back an original January deadline more than once.
That distinction is easy to lose in a single headline number. A hospital “dropping” a plan can mean the split already happened, or it can mean a negotiation is still running against a deadline that hasn’t arrived yet. Norfolk, Virginia-based Sentara Health is in that same negotiating position with Anthem, with its own end-of-2026 deadline attached to whether the two sides reach new terms.
What losing an in-network hospital means for a plan member
When a hospital or physician group leaves a Medicare Advantage plan’s network, coverage under the plan doesn’t end, but in-network access to that specific system can — which typically means higher out-of-pocket costs for care there, or none at all if the plan has no out-of-network benefit. Medicare’s annual Open Enrollment period gives members a way to respond: from October 15 through December 7, someone affected by a network change can switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan, move to a different insurer’s plan that still contracts with the same hospital, or return to Original Medicare, with the change taking effect the following January 1.
Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services shows what a change that’s already locked in looks like, rather than one still pending: Fairview has said it will stop scheduling patients enrolled in UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans starting January 1, 2027. For someone with an ongoing relationship at Fairview in that plan, that date isn’t conditional on a future negotiation — which is exactly why Becker’s own disclaimer, mixing settled exits with deadlines still in play, is worth reading past the headline count of 29.
A Special Enrollment Period Built for Exactly This
Medicare’s own enrollment rules already anticipate the situation Becker’s is tracking. Among the circumstances that can trigger a Special Enrollment Period outside the fall window, Medicare’s guidance lists a case where a member is notified of a significant change to a plan’s provider network. According to Medicare’s Special Enrollment Periods page, that circumstance is reviewed case by case rather than granted automatically, and a member found to qualify gets two months to join a different Medicare Advantage plan, switch plans, or drop coverage and return to Original Medicare — separate from, and faster than, waiting for the October 15 window described above. The same guidance lists a standing alternative: a beneficiary living in the service area of a Medicare Advantage plan, drug plan, or Medicare Cost Plan carrying an overall 5-star quality rating can use a one-time Special Enrollment Period, available every year between December 8 and November 30, to move into that plan regardless of what prompted the interest in switching.
Both routes exist alongside, not instead of, the fall Open Enrollment period already described, and neither is triggered automatically the moment a hospital’s name appears on Becker’s list — Medicare or the plan still has to confirm the specific change qualifies. What Medicare’s own Special Enrollment Periods guidance establishes, in writing, is that a mid-year network exit is not, by itself, a reason a household has to wait until October to act.
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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