Lee Health, the nonprofit hospital system anchoring Fort Myers and the rest of Southwest Florida, is walking away from its UnitedHealthcare contract, and the fallout lands squarely on Medicare Advantage enrollees. Beginning January 1, 2027, the system’s hospitals and physicians will no longer count as in-network for UnitedHealthcare’s employer-based, individual, and Medicare Advantage members, a change that reaches every Lee Health location in the region. For older patients who have built years of care around Lee Health doctors, it means weighing higher out-of-network costs against switching plans during this fall’s Medicare enrollment window.
What Ends December 31, and What Doesn't
Lee Health said it is terminating its Hospital Participation Agreement and Medical Group Participation Agreement with UnitedHealthcare, with the current contract running through December 31, 2026. After that date, Lee Health’s hospitals and physicians across every one of its locations will be out-of-network for UnitedHealthcare’s affected employer-based, individual, and Medicare Advantage plans, according to the health system’s own patient notice. Appointments, tests, and procedures scheduled through the end of 2026 are unaffected, and patients who already have visits booked into 2027 are being told not to cancel them without first checking their options.
One coverage type is carved out of the change entirely. Members who pair traditional Medicare with a UnitedHealthcare or AARP Medicare Supplement, often called Medigap, will keep seeing Lee Health providers exactly as before, with the supplement still billed secondary to Medicare. The network break applies only to UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage, employer, and individual plans, not to Medicare itself or to supplemental coverage layered on top of it. Physicians under separate contracts, such as Florida Heart Associates, are unaffected as well, and Lee Health has posted a running list of which plans remain in-network beyond January 1 for patients who want to check a specific provider or plan.
Free weekday retirement brief: Social Security, Medicare, and the IRS change the rules every year — and no notice arrives in the mail. The Retirement Money Brief by RetireShield explains one change every weekday: what moved, who it affects, and the step to take. Get the free brief.
A Third of Denials and a Disputed $100 Million
Lee Health has pointed to UnitedHealthcare’s handling of prior authorizations and claims as its reason for the split. In an open letter to patients, the system said roughly one-third of its medical necessity denials trace back to UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage plans, and it alleges the insurer owes it more than $100 million in disputed and underpaid claims. Lee Health described the divide as a matter of “fundamentally different priorities” between a nonprofit system guided by community benefit and a publicly traded insurer answering to shareholders.
UnitedHealthcare disputes that framing. A company spokesperson said Lee Health issued the termination notice without raising the alleged issues beforehand and that no contract negotiations were underway ahead of the announcement. The insurer says more than four months remain on the existing agreement and that it intends to use that time to pursue a renewed deal rather than let the network lapse, calling public pressure on patients an unproductive substitute for direct talks.
The Marketplace Dispute Already in Place
The Medicare Advantage exit compounds a separate, ongoing disagreement over UnitedHealthcare’s Affordable Care Act marketplace plans. Lee Health’s patient notice states that UnitedHealthcare already treats the system as out-of-network for its Exchange/Marketplace plans, a position Lee Health has not accepted but has told patients to plan around in the meantime. Add the 2027 exit from UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage, employer, and individual plans, and the practical effect for many Fort Myers-area households is that a UnitedHealthcare card increasingly does not guarantee access to the area’s dominant hospital system.
The friction is not unique to UnitedHealthcare. In 2024, Lee Health also narrowed which of its primary care providers stayed in Florida Blue’s Medicare Advantage network, while its hospitals and specialists remained covered, an earlier reminder that carrying a Medicare Advantage card guarantees a plan’s premium and benefits, not permanent access to every doctor at a given hospital system.
Where Medicare Advantage Members Still Have Options
Members enrolled in a UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plan are not without options before the network change takes hold. Lee Health’s notice points affected patients toward UnitedHealthcare’s Continuity of Care process, which can let some patients keep seeing an in-network-rate provider for a limited stretch, particularly during pregnancy or ongoing treatment for a chronic illness that spans the contract’s end date. Patients are directed to call the number on the back of their insurance card to ask whether they qualify and how to apply. Patients who continue care at Lee Health without qualifying for that process, the notice says, may face higher out-of-pocket costs or other coverage limits, though emergency care remains covered regardless of network status under federal law.
Members can also use this fall’s Medicare Open Enrollment period to compare other Medicare Advantage or Original Medicare options rather than wait for the network to lapse. Medicare’s plan-comparison tool, along with the 1-800-MEDICARE helpline, lets enrollees check in advance which plans keep Lee Health’s hospitals and physicians in network before deciding whether to switch coverage for 2027.
How Affected Patients Will Be Notified
Lee Health said it will communicate directly with members whose coverage is affected rather than leave patients to discover the change at a first 2027 appointment. The health system is urging patients to watch for correspondence from their own plan and to check its own notice for updates, since which UnitedHealthcare plans remain in-network beyond January 1 could still shift during the more-than-four-month negotiating window both sides say remains open. Because the current contract still has more than four months to run, patients are advised to keep watching for updates rather than assume the January 1 date is final.
Inside the decision kit
A cost calculator spreadsheet comparing plans on cost, drugs and doctors, a prescription-by-plan comparison, a provider call script and the Open Enrollment calendar.
The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit includes a 42-page decision kit, a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors and a prescription-by-plan comparison.
Open The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit.
This article was reported and written with the assistance of AI and reviewed before publication.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
