HC wrote to me, warning that my health provider will go out of network in 2024. They said, in part "Your plan will cover care from Sarasota Memorial Health Care System (SMH) as an out-of-network provider, if they are a Medicare-approved provider and accept the plan. Your share of the cost will be the same as if they were part of the network."
Sound comforting? Not so. The devil is in the details. SMH told me they will NOT accept UHC in 2024 - not even out-of-network. So I must change all my doctors next year, or return to an Aetna Advantage plan (which IS accepted by SMH), and lose the IBM subsidy.
I wonder if anyone knows exactly how out-of-network with same copay even works with UHC. Without a contracted rate, how much would the provider bill UHC?? Their full rate? I find it hard to believe that UHC would swallow the difference between full rate and Medicare "usual & customary" (less my copay).
