May 1—UnitedHealthcare policyholders are now out of network in the Northeast Georgia Health System, as a contract between the two sides expired Sunday, April 30, without an extension agreement.

One thing that kept going on Monday, May 1, was the war of words.

"NGHS refused to move off its demands for a more than 20% price hike over the next three years, including a double-digit rate increase in the first year that would make its hospitals the most expensive in Georgia," UHC said in a statement.

"We provided a fair and reasonable proposal on March 31 that included meaningful rate increases. Unfortunately, NGHS refused to respond to our proposal, canceled all of our meetings over the past few weeks and has chosen to disrupt Georgians' access to its hospitals and physicians."

NGHS noted on its website that United had "removed all NGHS locations from its network for patients with commercial health insurance plans.

"We know how upsetting this is, and we share your frustration. United's actions are disruptive, leaving their members with little access to in-network care in North Georgia. Instead of listening and responding to our requests, United has begun sharing misleading information about the negotiation."

NGHS said in response to the price hike it "is actually only asking for a single-digit increase to bring UnitedHealthcare in line with other commercial insurance companies" and "the proposal they sent on March 31 is unreasonable. They know we cannot accept it. "

As for those affected by the contract talks, NGHS says on its website, "Only UnitedHealthcare commercial (employer-sponsored) health plans are impacted by the negotiations."

UHC has said in a statement, "If we are unable to reach an agreement, NGHS will no longer participate in our network for employer-sponsored and individual plans, effective May 1, 2023."

The insurer's Veteran Affairs Community Care Network is no longer impacted by negotiations.

UHC has projected "total membership impact is just more than 12,000."

NGHS also says on its website that "new legislation in Georgia provides extended coverage to some patients as if they were in-network until Oct. 27."

NGHS and Anthem were engaged in a similar battle in 2019.

Negotiations dragged past a Sept. 30 deadline that year, with the two parties finally reaching an agreement in January 2020.

In that case, NGHS had agreed to honor in-network rates for Anthem patients past the deadline until Dec. 31, saying it was taking a loss of about $10 million per month. When an agreement had not been reached by Jan. 1, Anthem patients became out-of-network with most NGHS facilities.