Your health insurer is now out of network at nearby hospitals. What are your options?

Contract showdowns between hospital systems and health insurers are happening more often, and patients are caught in the middle.

In recent months, disputes over expiring contracts have led to tens of thousands of Florida residents receiving state-required warning letters from their insurance companies, alerting them that their physicians or local hospitals could soon be out of network. If the insurer and health system fail to reach an agreement, patients lose access to trusted doctors or face significantly higher medical bills.

In some cases, disputes escalate beyond a warning letter. For instance, in Broward County, Broward Health and Florida Blue failed to reach a new contract agreement by July 1. That conflict caused Broward Health’s hospitals, emergency rooms, physicians, and speci