GAINESVILLE, Ga. — The Northeast Georgia Health System, which operates several hospitals and clinics, is not currently taking insurance coverage from United Healthcare.
The insurance company, which also owns pharmacy benefits company OptumRX, has been negotiating with the health system over billing agreements for 2026.
According to NGHS, “Despite our best efforts to restore the relationship between Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) and United Healthcare (United), United is refusing to work with any urgency toward reaching a new agreement.”
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The health system said they wanted to be transparent with patients to keep them informed about open enrollment for the fall.
The health system said this means they will not be in network with United for the 2026 plan year, including for Medicare Advantage plans and other commercial health insurance offerings.
United Healthcare is reportedly the largest health insurance provider in the country, with more than one million patients in Georgia.
While NGHS said they’ve waited for UHC to work “with any urgency” to reach a new agreement with them, in a statement shared with Channel 2 Action News, UHC said that was false.
A UHC spokesman said they haven’t gotten a proposal for negotiators to consider since fall 2024. A new proposal was sent to NGHS by UHC in July, the spokesman said.
Additionally, UHC said the proposal most recently received from NGHS would “make them the most expensive health system in our entire Georgia network in just one year.”
Bryan Palmer, the United Healthcare CEO in Georgia, provided the following statement:
“We delivered a proposal to NGHS in July offering additional compromises and meaningful rate increases beyond what we’d already proposed. NGHS has not countered. Their last proposal, more than a year ago, demanded an approximate 25% price hike, including a double-digit rate increase in the first year that would make its hospitals the most expensive in our Georgia network. We urge NGHS to finalize the terms of our latest proposal and put an end to this disruption it has caused.”
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