BALTIMORE — Finding the right cancer care took Katherine Savin to three hospitals. Keeping it has felt like a second full-time job.
Savin is living with stage 4 colon cancer. More than a year after Johns Hopkins and UnitedHealthcare’s contract expired, she is comparing insurance options again and trying to find the most affordable way to stay with the team she credits with keeping her alive.
“I am here truly because of Hopkins and I can say that wholeheartedly,” Savin said.
The split initially affected an estimated 60,000 Hopkins patients across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Hopkins has been out of UnitedHealthcare’s network since August 25, 2025, with an exception for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in Florida.
RELATED: Hopkins–UnitedHealthcare split: How patients are navigating care amid contract fallout
For Savin, switching doctors isn’t that simple. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2021. When it returned and progressed to stage 4, her first oncology team told her there was nothing more they could do.
“They basically said, for their resources, for what they have, they could not do anything more for me, so it was as far as they could take me, and you can read through the lines with that.” Savin said.
She turned to another hospital and underwent a major surgery. That team then recommended Hopkins.
“It was their oncology team that said, ‘I will treat you, but if you were my sister, you belong at Hopkins,’” she said.
Savin moved her care to Hopkins for its expertise in colon cancer and access to clinical trials. At the time, it was in her UnitedHealthcare network.
When the contract dispute emerged, she expected the two sides to work it out.
“I thought it was one of those little negotiations that everyone gets real scared and all of a sudden, you know, they’ll figure it out, Well, news flash, they didn't figure it out,” she said.
Continuity-of-care extensions temporarily allowed her to receive treatment at in-network rates, but those extensions ran out. UnitedHealthcare employees helped her understand her options, she said, including a plan with out-of-network benefits.
Her family compared that coverage with other insurance and decided staying with United was still the most affordable choice. But she said their deductible roughly tripled and their overall costs climbed.
“Right now, we’re paying three times more, actually close to four times more than we were year over year, and it was still the most affordable option for us,” she said.
Jason Buxbaum, an assistant professor at Brown University’s School of Public Health, and his colleagues studied nearly 15,000 hospital–insurer relationships over four years. They documented public threats to end network participation, known as brinkmanship, in about 8 percent of those relationships. Approximately 28 percent of those threats resulted in a hospital actually leaving a network.
The study excluded Maryland hospitals because of the state’s distinctive hospital rate-setting system. It examined commercial insurance relationships and did not formally measure how long the splits lasted.
Based on his observations, Buxbaum estimates that many splits resolve within weeks or months, while others linger.
“There was a reason they were together in the first place. It made business sense for both parties,” he said. “The flip side is this dispute has dragged on so long that perhaps Hopkins has decided it can do business, it can succeed as an enterprise without United, and vice versa.”
Both Hopkins and United have said payment rates were not the final sticking point, but they have offered competing descriptions of the contract disagreement.
Hopkins has pointed to terms it said would allow delays and denials of care. United has said Hopkins wanted the ability to exclude patients based on their employer.
Asked for an update on negotiations, a UnitedHealthcare spokesperson told WMAR-2 News Mallory Sofastaii, “We don’t have an update on the negotiation to share at this time.”
Hopkins responded, “We have nothing new to share.”
United said its network across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., includes more than 120 hospitals, approximately 12,000 primary care physicians and more than 27,000 specialists. It listed MedStar Health, the University of Maryland Medical System, Inova Health and Privia Health among the participating organizations.
The insurer encouraged members who need help finding a provider or understanding their coverage to call the number on their health plan ID card.
The Maryland Insurance Administration said it received 31 complaints related to the dispute. Most concerned the loss of trusted providers; others came from patients worried about what would happen when temporary continuity-of-care coverage ended.
The agency said a network adequacy review shortly after the termination found “minimal effect on compliance with the network adequacy standards.” It also said it continues speaking informally with both parties in hopes of a resolution.
MIA has taken two enforcement actions related to the dispute.
In one consent order, United-affiliated insurers agreed to a $250,000 penalty and corrective action involving improperly processed emergency-services claims. The agreement included reviewing and reprocessing affected claims and paying applicable interest. It expressly stated that the insurers settled without admitting wrongdoing.
A separate order imposed a $125,000 penalty over MIA’s findings that United inadequately informed patients about continuity-of-care rights. United disputed those findings and requested a hearing. MIA said the hearing is stayed pending settlement negotiations.
In response to questions about the enforcement matters, United said, “We believe this matter has been resolved and appreciate the Maryland Insurance Administration’s engagement.”
MIA also said Maryland’s new patient-protection law will help people navigate future network disputes, but will not apply to this split from 2025.
READ MORE:
- Maryland bill aims to protect patients caught in hospital-insurance contract disputes
- Maryland Insurance Commissioner eyes reforms as UnitedHealthcare–Johns Hopkins standoff drags on
For Savin’s family, the immediate decisions remain financial and personal. Keeping her Hopkins team has meant fewer outings and vacations. Her husband even offered to look for another job with different insurance.
“My kids now know that we’re doing this to help mom,” she said. “And they’re just, they’re so understanding.”
And she wants the people making these decisions to understand what families are facing.
“I hope that there are people that are the decision makers that aren’t looking at the bottom line, that aren’t looking at money, and really are trying to put the person first,” Savin said.
As patients compare coverage during open enrollment, Buxbaum and MIA recommend confirming that their doctors and hospitals participate in the specific plan they are considering. Patients who want to keep an out-of-network provider should check what the plan pays and what they would owe; some plans offer no out-of-network benefits.
MIA acknowledges that some people have limited choices because of their employer’s offerings. Information about coverage options is available on the agency’s website.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.