UnitedHealthcare, BayCare contract deadline looms: Here's when Florida patients could lose in-network coverage

TAMPA, Fla. - UnitedHealthcare and BayCare are coming up on the May 31 deadline to finalize a new contract to keep BayCare in-network.

Troy Quast, a professor of health economics at the University of South Florida, said stalled renegotiations are common.

"These tend to resolve at the last minute, if nothing else, but it leads to a lot of stress for patients," Quast said. "And that's kind of the, again, the entity that's getting the brunt of this because they're having to worry about this."

Why you should care:

Quast said this change and negotiation period is hard on the patients.

"Continuity of care is a very important factor of health. And so, if individuals have to go without care, have interruptions, disruptions, even trying to take care of prescriptions, that can be very problematic changing providers," Quast said. "So that definitely has the potential for impacting health."

Big picture view:

It will affect anyone on a standard UnitedHealthcare plan, the UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plan, the UnitedHealthcare Medicaid plan and the United Behavioral Health, which is also known as Optum.

These changes historically only affect the Medicare and Medicaid plans.

"They're going to first have to shop around potentially to find providers," Quast said. "And when they do find one, it's a matter of implementing care from scratch. And so that can be between getting medical records and instituting courses of care and prescriptions, and things on those lines. It's very problematic for the patients."

What they're saying:

UnitedHealthcare gave FOX 13 the following statement:

"BayCare is seeking price hikes that would significantly increase costs for Florida families and employers, the majority of which would be absorbed by local self-insured companies, impacting the money they have to grow their business and compensate their employees. We are proposing market-competitive rate increases that continue to reimburse BayCare similar to its peers throughout the Tampa Bay area and will remain at the negotiating table as long as it takes to renew our relationship. However, we need BayCare to share in our commitment of reaching an agreement that is affordable for the people we collectively serve."

BayCare issued this statement:

"For 29 years, BayCare has worked to grow with our communities in Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk counties, and now, Manatee County, to serve the health care needs of our neighbors. That's why we are working in good faith with UnitedHealthcare to reach new, fair network agreements to protect patients' ability to continue choosing the BayCare physicians, facilities and services they know and trust. Our goal is to have a new agreement in place before our current agreement expires at [the] end of [the] day on May 31, 2026.  We encourage patients who have questions to visit our informational website."