UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage patients who are already in active treatment before Oct. 1 keep in-network rates at NewYork-Presbyterian through Dec. 29, 2026, according to the health system’s patient notice. For most other UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage members, every NewYork-Presbyterian hospital and medical group becomes out of network on Oct. 1. Neither NewYork-Presbyterian nor UnitedHealthcare has published how many members are affected.
The NewYork-Presbyterian network break: the notice leaves open which 2027 plan keeps a patient’s hospital and doctors, and The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit includes a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors.
Tap here to compare plans on doctors and costs with The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit →
Which UnitedHealthcare plans lose NewYork-Presbyterian on Oct. 1
NewYork-Presbyterian’s patient notice on UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans says that starting Oct. 1, 2026, all of its hospitals will be considered out-of-network providers for most UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage members. The affected sites named in the notice are NYP/Columbia, NYP/Weill Cornell, Allen Hospital, Brooklyn Methodist and NYP Queens, plus NYP medical groups in Brooklyn, the Hudson Valley, Queens and Westchester.
The notice carves out several groups. AARP Medigap and supplemental policies and Group Retiree PPO plans are unaffected, and some individual-policy and group HMO members may keep out-of-network benefits. Physicians at ColumbiaDoctors and Weill Cornell Medicine stay in network, although the notice cautions that facility services may not.
The active-treatment exception ends Dec. 29
Patients undergoing active treatment before Oct. 1 stay in network through Dec. 29, 2026, the notice says. Starting Dec. 30, non-emergency visits become out of network unless UnitedHealthcare approves them. Pregnant patients stay in network for the duration of the pregnancy and postpartum delivery-related care, which the notice says may exceed 90 days.
The exception is tied to treatment that began before the break, not to new care started afterward, and it is temporary. The money at stake is the gap between in-network and out-of-network cost sharing, which differs by plan. The notice sends UnitedHealthcare members to the member services number on the back of the insurance card for plan-specific questions.
A dispute that has already broken once and been extended repeatedly
The Oct. 1 date is the latest in a series. UnitedHealthcare’s network page for NewYork-Presbyterian says NYP went out of network for Individual and Family Plan enrollees on Jan. 1, 2026, and that the insurer extended network access for other plans, Medicare Advantage included, “through Sept. 30, 2026 while our organizations finalize the terms of our new multi-year agreement.” Becker’s Payer reported in April that the two sides had already pushed an earlier deadline to April 30 in March, with May 1 the next threatened break.
The extension on UnitedHealthcare’s page is broader than Medicare Advantage. It lists employer-sponsored commercial plans, Group Retiree coverage, Medicaid, Dual Special Needs Plans, the Essential Plan, the Empire Plan and specialized transplant and behavioral health networks, which means the same contract clock governs several groups of older and disabled New Yorkers. The Oct. 1 notice, by contrast, is written for the Medicare Advantage lines, and the carve-outs above show that even inside that category the effect depends on the exact product a member holds.
Patients have felt the uncertainty since last year. CBS New York reported on Dec. 12, 2025 that NYP said UnitedHealthcare had decided to exclude it from the Medicare Advantage network starting Jan. 1, 2026, while UnitedHealthcare said its goal was “an agreement that is affordable while maintaining continued network access to NYP.” Judy Losasso, 81, a cancer survivor in remission, told the station she did not want to “start all over again to get three or four new doctors.”
Neither organization’s page read on Sept. 30 announced a new agreement, and a news search the same day found none. A deal reached before Oct. 1 would change the picture, so the NYP notice and UnitedHealthcare’s page are the two places where any update would appear first.
Open Enrollment closes Dec. 7, three weeks before the continuity window ends
Two clocks run against the same patient. Medicare.gov’s enrollment periods page says the Open Enrollment Period runs Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 and that a plan must receive a request by Dec. 7 for coverage to start Jan. 1. NYP’s continuity window closes Dec. 29, so any plan chosen in Open Enrollment would start only after it has lapsed. Members already in Medicare Advantage also get a separate Jan. 1 to March 31 period to switch plans or return to Original Medicare, with coverage starting the first of the month after the plan approves the request.
Network status is a plan-level question, not an insurer-level one. NYP’s notice lists eight insurers that remain in network: Aetna, Anthem BCBS, Cigna, EmblemHealth, Fidelis, Healthfirst, MVP Health Care and Wellcare. An insurer’s name does not settle whether a particular Medicare Advantage plan includes a patient’s hospital and doctors. Medigap is a different route, and Medicare.gov’s guaranteed issue rights page says the situations in which an insurance company cannot deny a Medigap policy are called guaranteed issue rights, directing readers to their State Insurance Department to check whether one can be bought outside the Medigap Open Enrollment Period.
The free official route is direct. Plan changes can be made through Medicare.gov or by phone, and the NYP notice lists 1-800-633-4227 for Medicare representatives, with no paid help required to compare or switch plans.
Comparing Medicare plans when a hospital system leaves the network
The NewYork-Presbyterian break leaves Medicare Advantage members to compare plans on hospital access before Open Enrollment closes on Dec. 7, while the Dec. 29 continuity window ends before any new plan starts. Network lists have to be confirmed plan by plan, and the dates sit in different places.
The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit includes a provider call script and the Open Enrollment calendar, which organize the questions to put to each plan and the dates to keep in view.
Click here to get The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
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.
