They are frustrated the health system is now considered out-of-network for thousands of people.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt’s very disconcerting to all of a sudden to be told, \u2018Hey, I can’t see you because you know, your insurance won’t pay,\u2019” said Brenda Barth, of Watertown.<\/p>\n
Barth is among the about 15,000 patients left scrambling with UConn Health now out-of-network for many Aetna members.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s recovering from surgery on her spine in September and a follow-up in January has been canceled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was kind of upset. You know, it’s just a tennis game between the insurance company and UConn over reimbursement rates,\u201d Barth said.<\/p>\n
Months of negotiations between Aetna and UConn have so far failed to reach a deal before Sunday\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n
Both sides report there were no updates on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Aetna tells us UConn is asking for a big increase in reimbursement rates and that could hike costs for members and employers.<\/p>\n
UConn argues its rates are lower than other health systems in the state and it\u2019s looking for a fair agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now I feel like I’m quite in the middle,\u201d Barth said.<\/p>\n
So what should people do now?<\/p>\n
If you are currently being treated or have a procedure scheduled, contact your provider.<\/p>\n
You may qualify for what\u2019s called continuity of care benefits. That allows you to continue care at in-network rates for up to 90 days.<\/p>\n
UConn says to help people avoid having to pay potentially higher out-of-network costs, some appointments are being rescheduled or canceled.<\/p>\n
Other less straightforward options include paying for services out-of-pocket or finding a new provider who accepts your insurance.<\/p>\n
Barth says it could be tough to find a new neurosurgeon since she\u2019s already established at UConn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m hoping they come to an agreement pretty soon,\u201d Barth said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are hearing from patients who feel caught in the middle of a dispute between Aetna and UConn…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":423059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[210,1141,1142,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-423058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115658769231553456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}