Copyright Star Tribune
The one-year contract agreement resolves an impasse that could have blocked 33,000 patients from their health care providers. By Christopher Snowbeck The Minnesota Star Tribune November 4, 2025 at 10:53PM Fairview owns University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis, shown here in 2020. The hospital will remain in network for UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage patients next year. (Fairview Health Services) Enrollment in the plans has steadily grown over the past two decades, but UnitedHealthcare is projecting its business will shrink by 1 million people next year amid cost pressures. While Fairview and UnitedHealthcare have come to terms, the Medicare Advantage market continues to be turbulent due to premium increases, vanishing choices and bigger spending requirements when seniors use health care next year. The biggest change is that UCare, the state’s second-largest Medicare Advantage plan, is leaving the market statewide as of Jan. 1 following unprecedented financial losses last year. The move means at least 158,000 Minnesotans must find new coverage for 2026. Christopher Snowbeck Reporter Christopher Snowbeck covers health insurers, including Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group, and the business of running hospitals and clinics. See More
