United Healthcare Deadline Looms with Hospitals

About 3,000 East End residents could find on July 15 that they have to pay costly out-of-network rates at local hospitals, unless United Healthcare and the East End Health Alliance can agree on a new contract.

Sixty days after that, another 12,000 United Healthcare policyholders could be in the same boat.

United Healthcare sent a letter to some of its eastern Suffolk customers this week to warn that a July 14 contract expiration is looming. “We assure you that we are making every effort to reach a successful resolution,” the letter reads.

Most United Healthcare policyholders will not be immediately affected. East End Health Alliance spokesman Paul Connor said United Healthcare both insures policyholders directly and acts as a third-party administrator for self-insured plans, such as the East End Health Plan, in which many school districts participate. The customers with self-insured plans will be affected starting July 15, he said. For the rest, there will be a 60-day “cooling off period” after the deadline, during which the contract will be expired but policyholders will still be considered in-network.

Connor said the disparity in when customers are affected by the contract expiration is a result of different state regulations for different types of insurance plans.

Talks have been productive, Connor said, but he expects an agreement will not come until they are down to the wire. “Any time we negotiate rates, it takes the full length of the contracts, is my experience,” he said.

United Healthcare and the East End Health Alliance, which includes , and , are negotiating over how much money the insurance company will reimburse the hospitals for visits, procedures, tests, surgeries and other care and costs.

Even if the contracts do expire, Connor noted that emergency care will still be covered at in-network rates. Continuing care, such as pre-natal care, will also be covered.