{"id":937849,"date":"2026-07-16T02:05:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937849\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T02:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:05:14","slug":"ecu-health-hospitals-now-out-of-network-with-unitedhealthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937849\/","title":{"rendered":"ECU Health hospitals now out of network with UnitedHealthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"

The above video is our WITN+ livestream and may not reflect the content in this story.<\/p>\n

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – ECU Health hospitals, facilities, and clinics are no longer in network with UnitedHealthcare as of Wednesday, leaving some patients scrambling to change insurance plans or seek care elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Multiple patients said they either switched insurance providers to keep their doctors at ECU Health or, unable to make that change, must now travel to other areas for treatment.<\/p>\n

UnitedHealthcare\u2019s website<\/a> states the company presented ECU Health with a proposal in April that included meaningful rate increases, which ECU Health refused. United also said ECU Health presumably used its patients as leverage to pressure the insurer into agreeing to its terms.<\/p>\n

ECU Health\u2019s website<\/a> states the health system worked in good faith for nearly a year to reach an agreement with United. ECU Health said United\u2019s proposals do not reflect the realities of providing health care in the region.<\/p>\n

Annatta Quiros, a former UnitedHealthcare customer and ECU Health patient, said she switched insurance providers so she could continue receiving care at ECU Health.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty bad considering that\u2019s the only healthcare my husband and I have,\u201d Quiros said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have regular transportation, so we have to go where it\u2019s closer to home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quiros said she is concerned about how the situation affects vulnerable and elderly patients in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard on people, especially the elderly and stuff like that,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether you got health insurance or not, the bills are still going to keep coming in, you know? A lot of people can\u2019t afford that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheree Hart, a current UnitedHealthcare member, said she now travels to Kinston for migraine treatment to avoid switching providers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes my life a lot harder, simply because of the fact that these migraines are so detrimental,\u201d Hart said. \u201cI used to just be able to send the neurologist a message and say, \u2018Hey, this is my situation. Can you send medicine over?\u2019 I can\u2019t do that now. I have not seen my new doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hart said she and other Eastern Carolinians do not have the resources to deal with the disruption.<\/p>\n

When asked about negotiations Wednesday, ECU Health directed WITN to the information already posted on its website. UnitedHealthcare had not responded to a request for comment as of Wednesday. <\/p>\n

This was the third time ECU Health was asked to make a representative available on camera to discuss the negotiations. The health system said no one was available each time.<\/p>\n

ECU Health\u2019s website states that emergency care will be covered at in-network rates at its facilities.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WITN. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The above video is our WITN+ livestream and may not reflect the content in this story. GREENVILLE, N.C.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":937850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[35],"tags":[13986,17355,103223,3033,210,1141,1142,6478,7337,301542,2852,938,17354,1539,19686,174471,6225,67,70258,132,68],"class_list":["post-937849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-care","tag-carolina","tag-ecu","tag-greenville","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-hospital","tag-insurance","tag-insured","tag-negotiations","tag-network","tag-north","tag-of","tag-out","tag-uhc","tag-united","tag-united-states","tag-unitedhealthcare","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116927209616918708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937849","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=937849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}