NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) – CarolinaEast Medical Center has reached a new agreement with UnitedHealthcare, keeping Medicare Advantage members in-network through Dec. 31. <\/p>\n
The hospital remains out-of-network for Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare Advantage plan holders, effective July 1.<\/p>\n
The hospital announced in May that it would end in-network coverage for Medicare Advantage plans through both Blue Cross Blue Shield and UnitedHealthcare, with a July 1 effective date. CarolinaEast confirmed the UnitedHealthcare agreement Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
Kimberly Krauss, a health and senior benefits agent with Flatlands Jessup Insurance Group, said she is relieved by the UnitedHealthcare news but acknowledged those still affected by the Blue Cross Blue Shield change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been very hard for a lot of the people in the community, and thankfully, we have been here to kind of guide our senior community and talk to them about what their options are, and it\u2019s important for them to hear that they\u2019re not alone,\u201d Krauss said.<\/p>\n
Bob Smith, a New Bern resident and Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare Advantage plan holder, said he had hoped the hospital would reach a similar agreement with his insurer. Smith said he will now have to travel to Raleigh for knee replacement surgery and follow-up care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just wish they could, you know, get it together and come to an agreement, because it is hurting a lot of people, that means a lot of travel time,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Smith said having to find a new provider has been stressful, adding that he trusts his orthopedic doctor in New Bern. He said the frustration is widespread in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have been \u2014 they\u2019re not very happy about it either. Especially in New Bern, it\u2019s kind of a retirement city, and so it\u2019s affecting a lot of people,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
CarolinaEast said the coverage change does not affect patients seeing CarolinaEast physicians. The hospital also said emergency care will remain in-network.<\/p>\n
Krauss said impacted seniors should contact their local representatives and Blue Cross Blue Shield to ask about continuing treatment. She also suggested considering high-deductible supplement plans and exploring other hospitals.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WITN. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) – CarolinaEast Medical Center has reached a new agreement with UnitedHealthcare, keeping Medicare Advantage…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":907239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[35],"tags":[19872,38670,56986,367193,164175,367196,367194,21591,367195,210,1141,1142,3235,28533,17878,938,284119,519,13987,18301,67,70258,132,68,36907],"class_list":["post-907238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-advantage","tag-agreement","tag-bcbs","tag-bcbs-advantage","tag-blue-cross-blue-shield","tag-blue-cross-blue-shield-medicare-advantage","tag-carolinaeast","tag-coverage","tag-flatlands-jessup-insurance-group","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-medicare","tag-medicare-advantage","tag-nc","tag-network","tag-new-bern","tag-north-carolina","tag-patient","tag-patients","tag-united-states","tag-unitedhealthcare","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-witn"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116849773513211368","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907238","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=907238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}