As you may be aware, the UF Student Health Care Center and UF Health are an in-network provider for numerous health insurance plans. Health providers and insurers across the country often have to engage in difficult negotiations, and UF Health is no exception. Insurers like United Healthcare have reported billions in record profits while health systems like UF Health have shouldered growing costs while striving to fulfill the mission of serving patients and the community.
UF Health and United Healthcare are currently involved in one of those negotiations. Please know that UF Health places great value on its commitment to care for all patients and has been working extremely hard over the past several months to negotiate in good faith with United Healthcare so that UF Health remains a full United network provider. UF Health is waiting for United to respond with a fair and sustainable offer to make that happen.
We want to address the specific and important issue of the student health insurance program as it relates to the UF Health and United Healthcare negotiation. First, for students who have a United Healthcare plan through the university’s student health insurance program, the university has worked with UF Health to ensure that you will be able to continue to receive care at the Student Health Care Center AND at all UF Health facilities just as you always have, with no adverse impacts, irrespective of the outcome of the UF Health United negotiation.
The situation is a little more complicated for students who have United Healthcare coverage through their parents’ insurance, instead of through the university’s student health insurance program. UF and UF Health will ensure that even if United does not include UF Health in its network, you will continue to be able to receive services at the Student Health Care Center location just as you always have, with no changes in co-pays or deductibles. Unfortunately, if United does not include UF Health in its network after Sept. 1, 2024, services at other UF Health locations will be out of network. This includes UF Health’s hospitals, physician practices, and outpatient programs and services in Gainesville and Jacksonville. Students and parents should contact their United Healthcare representative to understand the implications of that on their co-pay, coinsurance, and deductible responsibilities. Together, UF and UF Health will continue to make every effort to provide uninterrupted care for our UF students who rely on us for their health care needs. If you have questions, please contact us at 352-265-8585.
Students with questions about their health insurance waiver status for fall 2024 can contact the Health Compliance Office at 352-294-2925 or healthcompliance@shcc.ufl.edu.