It took Riverdale resident Kelly Foster years to get her Crohn’s disease diagnosed. Once she did, she sought out the specialists at Mount Sinai’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center to get it under control.
“Once I did that, it kind of made sense to just start moving all of my doctors [to Mount Sinai] so that it’s all in the same system,” said Foster, 58. “I moved my primary care over there and then I recently moved my gynecologist over there.”
Foster is one of thousands of patients facing the prospect of finding whole new care teams as Mount Sinai ends its relationship with UnitedHealthcare, her insurer.
When Mount Sinai and United ended their contract amid a dispute over billing rates at the end of last year, some patients with United immediately lost coverage at Mount Sinai hospitals, while others lost it this month, depending on their plans. But United is now upping the stakes beyond hospital care: It’s also removing Mount Sinai-affiliated doctors from its network effective March 22.
More than 80,000 New Yorkers covered by United have visited Mount Sinai hospitals or affiliated doctors in the past year, according to the insurer.
United says Mount Sinai is seeking a 58% rate hike over the next four years that would make it the city’s most expensive health system. But Mount Sinai says it is just trying to get paid rates that are closer to competitors like New York-Presbyterian to cover rising labor costs and other expenses. Despite ongoing talks, patients are still unsure whether they can expect their coverage through United to be restored.
Some patients say they’re trying to figure out whether they have medical conditions that qualify for extended coverage under state and federal rules around continuity of care. Several told Gothamist they’re putting off looking for new health care providers in the hopes that the hospital system and insurance giant will work out their differences.
“I’ve been Googling this every couple of days, like, ‘Is there any…
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