Wausau, Stevens Point, Rhinelander and Wisconsin Rapids are among the places where Aspirus hospitals could leave UnitedHealthcare’s network on January 1, 2027. UnitedHealthcare’s Aspirus notice lists 18 hospitals and facilities in Wisconsin and Michigan that go out of network for its Medicare Advantage members if no deal is reached. Group retiree and dual special needs plans share the same cutoff.
The 18 Aspirus sites UnitedHealthcare names
Fourteen of them carry the Aspirus name: Eagle River, Iron River, Ironwood, Keweenaw, Langlade, Medford, Merrill, Plover, Rhinelander, Stanley, Stevens Point, Wausau, Wisconsin Rapids and Chippewa Falls hospitals. Each is listed as an Aspirus hospital on the notice.
Four more sites complete the count: Divine Savior Hospital, Howard Young Medical Center, North Central Health Care and Norwood Health Center. UnitedHealthcare lists them alongside the Aspirus hospitals as part of the same network dispute.
The company says it is engaged in good-faith negotiation with Aspirus Health to renew the network relationship. The notice, updated September 1, reports no agreement, and UnitedHealthcare has posted nothing newer. Members who use any of the 18 sites for a primary care visit, a specialist or a hospital stay should check now whether that provider is affected.
The notice covers hospitals in both states. Iron River, Ironwood and Keweenaw are the Michigan hospitals on the list, and the rest of the Aspirus hospitals named are in Wisconsin. UnitedHealthcare’s message to Michigan members is the same as the one to Wisconsin members: the date is January 1, 2027 unless an agreement is reached.
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Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and employer plans on the line
UnitedHealthcare names three groups of plans. They are employer-sponsored and individual commercial plans, Medicare Advantage plans including group retiree plans and dual special needs plans (DSNPs), and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan in Wisconsin, which is the Medicaid product.
That makes this wider than a Medicare story. People who hold both Medicare and Medicaid through a DSNP, and Wisconsin Medicaid members on the community plan, face the same January 1 date as Medicare Advantage members if no deal comes.
UnitedHealthcare’s Wisconsin Medicaid page says its provider network may change at any time and that members will receive notice when necessary. That page does not mention Aspirus, so the Aspirus notice is the place the dispute is spelled out.
Care already under way, and emergencies
UnitedHealthcare says any member who believes continuity of care is needed should contact the company to find out whether they are eligible. The notice gives no phone number. Members call the customer care number on their health plan ID card.
The company has not said how long continuity coverage would last or which conditions qualify. Those details would come from the call, which makes an early call useful for anyone in the middle of treatment.
A true emergency is the exception to the network split. In a crisis, UnitedHealthcare tells members to head for the closest hospital, Aspirus or not, and it pays that visit at the in-network benefit level.
The continuity language says any member, not only Medicare Advantage enrollees, so Medicaid and commercial members in the affected plans can make the same call. Someone on a standing schedule of treatment at an Aspirus site has the most to settle before the new year.
Marshfield, ThedaCare, SSM and other substitutes
UnitedHealthcare lists 11 in-network facilities as alternatives. They are Baraga County Memorial Hospital, Flambeau Hospital, three Marshfield Medical Center sites at Neillsville, River Region and Weston, Marshfield Medical Center in Minocqua, MCHS Chippewa Valley and Portage Hospital.
The rest are SSM Health St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo, ThedaCare Medical Center in Shawano and ThedaCare Medical Center in Waupaca. The list stretches from Baraga County in Michigan to Baraboo in southern Wisconsin, so how practical a substitute is depends heavily on where a member lives. Eleven substitutes are listed against 18 affected sites, which means fewer named alternatives than places leaving the network.
Members can check a specific doctor at myuhc.com, myuhcmedicare.com, retiree.uhc.com for group retiree plans, or uhc.com/communityplan/wisconsin for the Medicaid plan.
Picking a 2027 plan before a deal is announced
Medicare’s Open Enrollment runs from October 15 to December 7, and the plan chosen in that window starts January 1. That is the same day the Aspirus network contract is set to end without a deal. Medicare’s free Plan Finder is the official tool for comparing other 2027 plans.
Staying put carries a clear risk. If Aspirus and UnitedHealthcare settle, nothing changes. If they do not, a member in an individual Medicare Advantage plan keeps the plan but loses in-network access to 18 sites, and the window to switch will have closed.
The calendar is short. Counting from October 22, December 7 is 46 days away and January 1 is 71 days away. An agreement could come in either gap, and UnitedHealthcare has not said when talks are expected to conclude.
A rival plan may keep Aspirus or may not. That has to be checked plan by plan, with the specific clinic or hospital in hand, before December 7.
Staying with an Aspirus doctor next year?
A member who keeps the current plan and learns in January that an Aspirus hospital is out of network has already missed the December 7 window to compare. The notice from UnitedHealthcare reports no deal for the January 1 cutoff.
The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit includes a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors, and a prescription-by-plan comparison. Its Drug and Doctor Coverage Check and the Open Enrollment calendar let a member test each plan against a named Aspirus clinic before the deadline.
Get the doctor-by-plan comparison and Open Enrollment calendar 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.
