UnitedHealthcare ended 14 months of contract talks with the University of Miami Health System on July 31 by signing a multi-year agreement that left one group of patients outside it. The deal secured in-network access at UHealth for people covered through employer plans, Affordable Care Act marketplace plans and Florida Medicaid. A different contract governs the insurer’s Medicare Advantage Preferred Care Network plan, and that one is ending on a fixed date.
The July 31 Agreement Covered Commercial, Medicaid and ACA Plans, Not Preferred Care Network
UHealth described the outcome as the close of 14 months of discussions, and said the new multi-year agreement preserves in-network access for more than 60,000 patients enrolled in employer-sponsored commercial plans, Individual and Family Plans, and Medicaid through UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Florida. The health system was careful to separate that result from the Medicare Advantage question, calling the Preferred Care Network arrangement a distinct agreement handled on its own track.
The insurer’s notice puts the carve-out in plain language. “However, UHealth will be out of network for our Preferred Care Network, beginning Jan. 1,” UnitedHealthcare wrote on its UHealth network page, adding that it is informing members of the change now so they can make an informed decision over the next several months. That page was last updated July 31 and still carried the same language when checked on August 22.
Free retirement updates: Social Security and Medicare change every year, and nobody sends you a memo. Our free Retirement Shield newsletter breaks down what changed and what to do. Get it free in your inbox.
What the Insurer Says When Asked Whether the Two Sides Are Still Talking
The same notice carries a frequently asked question aimed squarely at the issue: whether both parties are still negotiating in an effort to reach an agreement for the Medicare Advantage Preferred Care Network plan. UnitedHealthcare’s answer is no. That distinction is the whole story for a beneficiary reading the page in late August, because the ordinary pattern in hospital-insurer standoffs is a last-minute deal that leaves coverage untouched. Here the standoff has already been settled, and settled the other way for one product line.
The health system’s account matches. UnitedHealthcare notified UHealth that it intends to terminate the Preferred Care Network contract, according to UHealth’s patient notice, which was updated August 3. Neither organization describes an open negotiation, a pending offer, or a deadline that could still be met.
The Extension Runs Through December 31, 2026, and Termination Lands January 1
The end date moved once, and it moved later rather than away. The contract was originally set to terminate September 1, 2026. Both organizations agreed to extend it through December 31, 2026, which pushes the termination to January 1, 2027. Preferred Care Network members keep uninterrupted in-network access to UHealth hospitals, outpatient facilities and physicians for the remainder of this calendar year.
Nothing about a household’s care changes before then. UHealth has told affected patients to keep scheduled appointments and to continue booking new ones, and says there are no changes to patient care, scheduling or operations at this time. The consequence arrives on the first day of 2027, when a Preferred Care Network member who has not moved is using an out-of-network health system for routine care, at whatever share of cost the plan applies to out-of-network providers.
Medigap Coverage and Continuity-of-Care Requests Follow Different Rules
Two groups sit outside the termination, for different reasons. People with a UnitedHealthcare Medicare Supplement plan can continue receiving care at UHealth, and the insurer says supplement coverage is unaffected by the Preferred Care Network outcome. A Medigap policy pays alongside Original Medicare rather than through a private plan’s contracted network, which is why a Medicare Advantage network termination does not reach it.
The second group is patients in active treatment, and their protection is conditional. UHealth’s notice says a patient who is pregnant or receiving ongoing treatment for a serious illness can apply to keep seeing UHealth providers during that course of treatment, and it is unusually direct about who decides. UHealth does not approve the requests. UnitedHealthcare reviews them, and UnitedHealthcare has the final say on whether a patient qualifies. Continuity of care here is an application with an uncertain outcome, not an automatic carve-out.
Open Enrollment Runs October 15 Through December 7, and a Switch Takes Effect January 1
The calendar lines up almost exactly with the termination. Medicare’s Open Enrollment period runs October 15 through December 7, and changes made in that window take effect January 1 of the following year, provided the plan receives the request by December 7. A Preferred Care Network member who wants UHealth in network next year can move during those eight weeks and start the new coverage on the same day the old contract ends, with no gap in between.
Outside that window the options narrow considerably. Medicare lists a case-by-case special enrollment period for a beneficiary who is notified of a significant change in a plan’s provider network, among other exceptional circumstances, but those are evaluated individually rather than granted automatically, and the agency directs people to call 1-800-MEDICARE to ask whether one applies.
UnitedHealthcare’s notice ends on the step it wants members to take: call the number on the health plan ID card. The insurer says it is telling Preferred Care Network members about the change months in advance precisely so the decision can be made during the enrollment window rather than after it. What the notice does not hold out, anywhere on the page, is the possibility that January 1 moves again.
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.
More Financial Reading
