Four UChicago Medicine AdventHealth hospitals in Chicago’s western suburbs, in Hinsdale, La Grange, GlenOaks and Bolingbrook, will be out of network for UnitedHealthcare and HealthSpring Medicare Advantage plans on January 1, 2027. Members who use those hospitals have until the fall enrollment window closes to decide whether to keep the plan or move. That window ends December 7.
Four hospitals, three plan families
UnitedHealthcare says on its network notice for the system, updated October 7, that it and UChicago Medicine AdventHealth “have made the mutual decision to end our Medicare Advantage network relationship.” The change covers Bolingbrook, GlenOaks, Hinsdale and La Grange. It applies to UnitedHealthcare individual Medicare Advantage plans and Group Retiree plans effective January 1, 2027.
The health system’s own Medicare resource hub is more specific about brands. It lists AARP Medicare Advantage plans through UnitedHealthcare, HealthSpring Medicare Advantage plans, and UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans, individual and group retiree, as no longer in network as of January 1, 2027. HealthSpring does not appear on the UnitedHealthcare page, so that part of the list comes from the hospital side only.
People with employer-sponsored or individual commercial UnitedHealthcare coverage are not affected, the insurer says. The notice is about Medicare Advantage only. That distinction matters in a household where one spouse is on an employer plan and the other is on a Medicare Advantage plan, because the two can end up with different answers about the same hospital.
Anyone enrolled in one of the named plans who has used a Hinsdale, La Grange, GlenOaks or Bolingbrook hospital should treat January 1 as the date the coverage changes. The first thing to settle is whether the surgeons, specialists and emergency care they rely on can be reached under another plan.
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The notice refers to UChicago Medicine AdventHealth hospitals and providers, not only the four hospital campuses. A member who sees a physician in the system’s clinics should ask the doctor’s office, not assume the plan covers an office visit because the hospital is not involved.
Neither organization publishes how many Medicare Advantage members are affected. What is on the record is the date, the plan families and the hospitals. For a member with a surgery or imaging appointment scheduled in January or later, those three facts are enough to start making calls now.
What the two organizations say stays covered
UnitedHealthcare says members in active or ongoing treatment for a serious or complex condition can keep getting care through the course of that treatment at in-network costs. Its examples are active cancer treatment and ongoing transplant care. Members are told to call the number on the health plan ID card to see whether they qualify.
For emergencies, the insurer says members should go to the nearest hospital, and the visit will be covered at the in-network benefit level. The notice gives no direct phone line of its own. It points members to the customer care number on the card, or to myuhc.com, myuhcmedicare.com and, for retiree plans, retiree.uhc.com.
The hospital system lists Traditional Medicare and most Medicare Supplement plans, known as Medigap, as accepted. For Medicare Advantage it lists Aetna Medicare, BlueCross and BlueShield of Illinois Medicare, Essence Healthcare Medicare and Humana Medicare as currently accepted. The page does not promise those plans will stay in network through 2027, so each one needs its own confirmation.
That caveat is the practical gap in the list. A plan being accepted today does not settle whether a specific cardiologist or imaging center is in its 2027 network. Before switching, a member needs the plan’s provider directory and a call to the doctor’s billing office to confirm the exact name on the card.
A December 7 choice for a January 1 loss
Medicare.gov lists the annual Open Enrollment Period as October 15 to December 7, with coverage starting January 1 of the next year and the plan needing the request by December 7. The health system’s hub warns that anyone who does not choose a plan in that period “will automatically stay under your existing Medicare plan.” For a member of a plan losing these hospitals, staying put means the loss takes effect.
A second window opens January 1 and runs through March 31 for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan. The hub says members can switch Advantage plans or return to Original Medicare then, but cannot change prescription drug plans. Waiting for it means the hospital is already out of network when the new year begins.
Going back to Original Medicare changes the cost structure. There is no Advantage network to leave, and the hub lists Traditional Medicare as accepted. But Original Medicare brings its own deductibles and coinsurance, and a member who wants drug coverage has to join a separate plan.
The hub gives 800-MEDICARE, 1-800-633-4227, for general Medicare questions and a Medicare advisor line at 980-431-0944. Neither number replaces the plan’s own answer on a specific doctor. A written yes from the plan about the 2027 network is the record to keep.
The decision for each member comes down to which matters more: the plan they already have, or access to the four western suburban hospitals. If it is the hospitals, the calculation has to be finished before December 7.
Will the plan on the card still cover Hinsdale or La Grange on January 1?
A member who stays in a UnitedHealthcare or HealthSpring Advantage plan by default will find the Hinsdale, La Grange, GlenOaks and Bolingbrook hospitals out of network when 2027 starts. Medicare.gov puts the cutoff for a January 1 change at December 7.
The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit has a provider call script for confirming a doctor and hospital with a plan before switching, plus a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors. It also covers Medigap guaranteed-issue rights when an Advantage plan leaves, with its own call script.
Get the provider call script and plan cost calculator in the Medicare Decision Kit →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
