United Health Care - Florida Hospital Standoff (Orlando: appointed, insurance)

[Soup Not See]

Anyone else affected by this ...

Florida Hospital prepares to ax United Healthcare if talks fail - Orlando Sentinel

We as a family stand to lose quite a few doctors if this comes to pass as the out-of-network costs would be prohibitive.

[Granny Sue]

We will be affected by it also....we have alternative doctors lined up if they should fail to reach an agreement.
I can't afford to go "out or network".

[boy3365]

Would this only impact people who actually use the hospital or would they lose their private practice doctors who have FH privileges?

[Granny Sue]

Originally Posted by boy3365

Would this only impact people who actually use the hospital or would they lose their private practice doctors who have FH privileges?

The way I've read the many letters that I've recieved, the doctors that only practice at Fl Hospital would now be considered "out of network". So yes, those doctors would be affected.

For example, my husband's diabetes doctor would now be out of network because he's considered a Fl Hospital doctor.

[95degrees]

I just changed to a separate UHC insurance plan for my child because the Bluecross plan offered from work only covers the employee and the optional plan for Child we could not afford - the independent UHC Golden Rule plan was good, much more affordable with a good network (at the time). So now we will be okay but my chld won't?? ... unacceptable! I don't know what to do yet but I do know this is not an option. I don't know if I can put her back on my work plan now (until enrollment time) or whether we can afford it Time to seek out the options available to us.

Does anyone know where the talks stand now (Sept 6)?

[chopchop0]

Florida Hospital, United Healthcare reach agreement (http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/health/081310florida-hospital-united-healthcare-reach-agreement - broken link)

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - United Healthcare and Florida Hospital have come to agreement, but, its not permanent. A spokesperson for United Healthcare tells FOX 35 that a temporary agreement was reached.

It will extend the current contract through September 14th. That spokesperson tells FOX 35 that United Healthcare will continue negotiating with Florida Hospital in an effort to come up with a new contract.


So for now United Healthcare can continue going to Florida Hospital, Centra Care, and Florida Hospital doctors for "in network" service.

[Parrotrosie]

Part of United Healthcare's demand was that the hospitals submit all treatment request for payments within 24 hours (including weekends and holidays) or they would be charged a 50% penalty. They already do this in other states including NY. That is an outrageous penalty. You think this is bad, just you wait until your new government funded healthcare kicks in. (and when I spoke to my UHC rep, that is exactly what he said to me!) Outrageous. I am looking at alternatives. I will take my money elsewhere. while my husband gets his medical paid for, the kid and I have to pay,....turns out, we can get it cheaper anyway if we went private and not though the husbands group plan anyway! We will choose a different, more reasonable provider. Our physician tells us that UHC has become one of the most unreasonable insurance companies to deal with anyway. Buh-bye UHC!

[chopchop0]

Florida Hospital Statement On UHC Agreement - Health News Story - WESH Orlando (http://www.wesh.com/health/25020589/detail.html - broken link)

United, Florida Hosp. reach agreement (http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/orange_news/091510-united-florida-hospital-agreement - broken link)

United Healthcare and the Florida Hospital System burned the oil past midnight Tuesday and were able to come to an agreement.

The representatives for the two sides had been in contract negotiations for weeks and were on a deadline of midnight Tuesday. That deadline came and the sides agreed to continue talks past the appointed hour. Just after 2:00 a.m. Tuesday morning they announced that an agreement had been reached.

The contract dispute had affected more than 400,000 Central Floridians with United Healthcare policies. The negotiations had been ongoing since last November. Tuesday’s deadline was actually an extension of an August 13th deadline.

No details were released on the agreement, however a spokesperson for the insurance company said, “Our renewed relationship emphasizes our joint commitment to delivering broad access to quality health care to residents across central Florida.”