Patients with UnitedHealthcare insurance may soon lose coverage at one of the largest health systems in Alabama due to a contract dispute.
If the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health system doesn’t reach a contract agreement with UnitedHealth by July 31, those patients “may be personally responsible” for costs beginning Aug. 1.
“We are deeply disappointed that UnitedHealthcare has created this uncertainty for our patients,” said Dawn Bulgarella, CEO of UAB Health System, in a news release.
The change will apply at all UAB clinics, including the St. Vincent’s facilities and services provided by UAB-employed physicians at Children’s of Alabama hospital. And it includes patients with both commercial and Medicare Advantage plans from United.
“Our goal is to remain a participating provider and continue delivering the highest-quality care to the people of Alabama,” Bulgarella said. “We encourage patients and employers to contact United and express the importance of keeping UAB Health System entities in-network.”
In a statement to AL.com, United said they are actively negotiating with UAB, but that the health system’s demands would “significantly increase premiums and out-of-pocket costs for consumers.”
“UAB is already one of the most expensive academic health systems in the Southeast. Despite this, UAB is demanding a double-digit price hike for our commercial plans in one year as well as increases for our Medicare Advantage plans that would make it among the highest-cost providers in our Medicare Advantage network nationally. Our goal is to reach an agreement that is affordable for consumers and employers. However, we need UAB to approach the negotiating table with a realistic proposal consumers and employers can afford.”
UAB has the largest health system in Alabama, serving 1.4 million patients. That’s more than a quarter of the state’s population.
According to UAB and other hospitals around the country that have had contract disputes with the health insurance provider, their concerns with United include “below-market reimbursement rates, excessive claim denials and delayed payments.”
Bulgarella, UAB Health Systems CEO, said UAB is committed to high-quality care and “cannot accept terms from United that would compromise our ability to serve the patients and communities who depend on us.”
“United’s approach to contract negotiations has already led to breakdowns with numerous providers — and more may follow,” Bulgarella said. “Their demands often ignore the economic pressures facing health care systems, while their public statements frequently paint an incomplete or misleading picture.”
Baptist Health Montgomery, which says it serves 57,000 patients from 17 counties in its ER, is also in contract disputes with the insurance provider.
Huntsville Hospital Health System sent a notice of termination to United in October, but eventually reached an agreement to keep the hospital in-network.
During the contract dispute, Huntsville hospital echoed many of UAB’s concerns.
“UnitedHealthcare, also known as UnitedHealthGroup, is the largest health insurance company in the world. The Minnesota-based insurance conglomerate most recently had annual earnings of $32.4 billion,” the Huntsville hospital system said in a statement at the time.
“And while reporting those billions of dollars in earnings, UnitedHealthcare hasn’t even paid our health system the amount contractually owed from the current agreement. In fact, their denial rate on patient claims is 75 percent higher than other like insurers.”
UAB also pointed out United’s profits, saying in their press release that the insurance giant “reported $14.4 billion in earnings in 2024 and continues to lead the industry by a significant margin as the single most profitable health insurer.”
UAB said patients with questions about access to their health system can call the number on the back of their insurance card for information about physicians and hospitals that accept United insurance.
Other in-network insurance providers accepted at UAB include:
This story was updated at 5:01 p.m. to include United HealthCare’s statement. It was also updated to reflect that Huntsville Hospital renewed its contract with the insurance provider.
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