Our commitment to you and your family’s health care needs
We recognize and value the care LCMC provides and are committed to reaching an agreement that is affordable for you and your family while maintaining continued network access to the health system’s hospitals.
As we continue our discussions, we also want to provide you the information you need regarding next steps should LCMC’s hospitals leave our network on Nov. 1.
Our top priority is providing you uninterrupted access to the care you need. If you or a loved one are in active or ongoing treatment for a serious or complex condition at an LCMC hospital at the time they go out of network, you are eligible for continuity of care.
Continuity of care allows people in ongoing or active treatment for a serious or complex condition at the time a provider leaves our network to continue accessing care with their provider at in-network rates for a period of time.
Examples of conditions that would be eligible for continuity of care include but are not limited to the following:
- People in active treatment for cancer;
- Women who are pregnant
You must apply and be approved for continuity of care. For information regarding how to apply, whether you might be eligible, and much more, please call the number on your health plan ID card. Our dedicated team of advocates are ready to assist you with all your health care needs.
We want you to know you continue to have access to a large network of hospitals throughout the New Orleans area should LCMC leave our network.
We have a broad network of hospitals throughout the New Orleans area that are readily able to provide high-quality care.
If you have questions or need assistance finding alternative hospitals in your area, please call the number on your health plan ID card. You can also use the provider directory at myuhc.com to search for alternative hospitals in our network.
We understand you are rightfully concerned by this, and we promise to keep you informed every step of the way as we work hard to reach an agreement that is affordable for you, your family and the employers we serve.
We have prepared the following FAQs to help answer any questions you might have regarding our negotiation as well as important information regarding next steps.
FAQs
Our current contract with LCMC for its hospitals remains in effect through Oct. 31. If we are unable to reach an agreement, LCMC’s hospitals will be out of network for employer-sponsored commercial plans, including Individual Family Plan (IFP) and UMR, effective Nov. 1, 2025.
This negotiation only impacts network access to LCMC’s hospitals for people enrolled in employer-sponsored commercial plans, including Individual Family Plan (IFP) and UMR.
People enrolled in UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans, including Group Retiree and Dual Special Needs Plan (D-SNP), as well as our Medicaid plan, are not impacted and will continue to have network access to LCMC’s hospitals, facilities and its physicians on and after Nov. 1.
Yes. LCMC’s physicians are not impacted by this. They will continue to remain in our network for our employer-sponsored commercial plans, regardless of the outcome of our negotiation. Likewise, LCMC’s ancillary provider locations such as its urgent care centers will also remain in our commercial network on and after Nov. 1.
Only LCMC’s hospitals would be out of network if an agreement is not reached.
Yes. We want to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to reach an agreement with LCMC. We will remain at the negotiating table as long as it takes to reach an agreement that is affordable for Louisiana families and employers.
Contract negotiations between providers and insurers are common. At UnitedHealthcare, we negotiate about 2,000 provider contracts every year on average. The vast majority of those result in renewed agreements with no disruption for our members, and also no external noise as the negotiations are handled professionally and behind closed doors.
Our goal in these negotiations is to provide people with access to quality care that is affordable. That is why we are proposing meaningful rate increases that continue to reimburse LCMC at market-competitive rates while balancing the affordability needs of the people and employers we serve.
LCMC’s proposal for a more than 40% price hike, including a near 20% increase in costs in year one, is not sustainable for Louisiana families or the companies that do business here. Agreeing to this would increase health care costs by more than $113 million. This would mean you’d pay significantly more for care received at an LCMC hospital than any other hospital in our network in the New Orleans market.
We are fully committed to engaging in productive, good-faith negotiation and remain focused on our goal of reaching an agreement. However, we need LCMC to join us at the negotiating table with a proposal that’s affordable for the people and businesses we collectively serve.
Continuity of care allows people in ongoing or active treatment for a serious or complex condition at the time a provider leaves our network to continue accessing care with their provider at in-network rates for a period of time.
Examples of conditions that would be eligible for continuity of care include but are not limited to the following:
- People in active treatment for cancer;
- Women who are pregnant
You must apply and be approved for continuity of care. For information regarding how to apply, whether you might be eligible, and much more, please call the number on your health plan ID card. Our dedicated team of advocates are ready to assist you with all your health care needs.
We know the care LCMC provides is not only important but also personal to you and your family. We want you to know you continue to have access to a broad network of hospitals throughout New Orleans and the surrounding area should LCMC leave our network.
If you or a family member has questions or needs assistance finding alternative hospitals in your area, please call the number on your health plan ID card. You can also use the provider directory at myuhc.com to search for alternative hospitals in your area.
You should always go to the nearest hospital in the event of an emergency. Services will be covered at the in-network benefit level, regardless of whether the hospital participates in UnitedHealthcare’s network.