UHealth Leaving UnitedHealthcare Preferred Care Network

If you are in a UnitedHealthcare Preferred Care Network (PCN) Medicare Advantage HMO plan and you see doctors at UHealth, the University of Miami Health System, a network change is coming. UHealth has told patients that its PCN contract ends after December 31, 2026, so UHealth hospitals, outpatient sites and physicians are scheduled to be out of network for PCN members starting January 1, 2027. Your plan is not ending, but the network inside it is changing. The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, is when you can act on that. Here is what the UHealth and UnitedHealthcare Preferred Care Network change means and what your options are.

What is changing, and what is not

According to UHealth's own patient page (updated August 3, 2026), UnitedHealthcare notified UHealth that it intends to end the Preferred Care Network contract. The two sides agreed to extend it through December 31, 2026, moving the end date back from the September 1, 2026 date first announced. UHealth says there are no changes to care, scheduling or operations before then, and it is telling patients to keep their appointments.

Three points cause most of the confusion:

• Only the PCN Medicare Advantage contract is affected. UHealth calls this "a separate matter" from its renegotiated agreement with UnitedHealthcare for commercial, Medicaid and international plans. Reporting on the July 31, 2026 deal also lists Individual and Family (ACA Marketplace) plans among those staying in network. If you have UnitedHealthcare through an employer or a Marketplace plan, this change is not about you.
• Your PCN plan itself continues. Nothing here cancels your coverage. What changes is whether UHealth is in your plan's network. Outside an emergency, an HMO generally does not cover non-emergency care from out-of-network providers, so the practical effect for a UHealth patient can be the same as losing access.
• It is about UHealth, not every South Florida doctor. Other hospitals and physician groups in the PCN network are not part of this dispute. Check your own doctors one by one rather than assuming the whole network changed.

Who should pay close attention

This matters most if you see a UHealth specialist regularly, including at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center or Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, if you have surgery or a procedure planned for early 2027, or if your primary care doctor is a UHealth physician. An HMO typically ties referrals to your primary care doctor, so a primary care change can affect your specialist referrals too.

If you only use UHealth occasionally, or not at all, the change may not affect you. It is still worth reading your Annual Notice of Change, which plans mail by the end of September, to confirm nothing else about your plan changed for 2027.

Your options during Annual Enrollment (Oct 15 to Dec 7)

For a PCN member, the Annual Enrollment Period is the dependable window. Changes you make by December 7 take effect January 1, 2027, so a plan that includes UHealth can pick up where your current access ends, with no gap. Our Florida Medicare annual enrollment guide walks through the full checklist. For this situation, the realistic choices are:

1. Stay in your PCN plan and move your care to in-network doctors. This can make sense if your UHealth care is occasional or easy to transfer.
2. Switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan whose 2027 network includes your UHealth doctors and facilities. Confirm each provider, not just the hospital, for the 2027 plan year specifically.
3. Move to Original Medicare, often paired with a Part D drug plan and possibly a Medigap policy. Original Medicare works with any provider that accepts Medicare. Be careful here: Florida has no Medigap "birthday rule," and outside your guaranteed-issue windows, a Medigap application can generally be medically underwritten. Price and apply for Medigap before you give up your Advantage plan. Our Medicare Advantage vs Original Medicare in Florida guide explains the trade-off in detail.

If you miss December 7, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 through March 31 lets someone already in an Advantage plan make one change, to another Advantage plan or back to Original Medicare. Medicare also lists a special enrollment period when you are notified of a significant change in your plan's provider network, but Medicare.gov says those are evaluated case by case. Do not count on one. Plan around December 7.

If you are in the middle of treatment

UHealth says patients who are pregnant or receiving ongoing treatment for a serious illness can apply to keep seeing UHealth during that treatment, and that UnitedHealthcare makes the final decision on who qualifies. If that describes you, call the member services number on your plan card and ask how to request continued care with your UHealth providers, and ask your UHealth care team to help. Get any approval in writing, and note how long it lasts. Even if you qualify, it is a bridge, not a replacement for choosing 2027 coverage that fits your care.

How to check your doctors before you switch

Networks are set plan by plan and year by year, so the 2027 directory is the only one that counts. Before you enroll in anything:

• List every doctor, specialist, hospital and facility you expect to use in 2027.
• Search each one in the 2027 provider directory for the exact plan you are considering, then call the office and ask whether it will accept that plan in 2027.
• Check your prescriptions against the plan's 2027 drug list and preferred pharmacies.
• Compare total costs, including copays for the specialists you actually see, not just the monthly premium.

Our doctor and network check explains how we help with this, and our Florida Medicare Advantage overview covers how these plans work across the state.

Talk it through before December 7

We will not tell you which plan to choose, and you should be wary of anyone who pushes one before checking your doctors and prescriptions. A licensed agent can compare the plans we offer in your county, look up your UHealth providers in each 2027 network, and walk you through the Medigap timing if Original Medicare is on the table. Request a free, no-obligation review or call (888) 880-4335. We are a licensed Florida insurance agency, not a government agency and not Medicare. We do not offer every plan available in your area; any information we provide is limited to the plans we do offer. Please contact Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE, or your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHINE in Florida) to get information on all of your options.