St. Peter's, Aetna working to come to new agreement for 2025

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- St. Peter's Health Partners and health insurance company Aetna are currently negotiating a new contract for 2025. If an agreement is not made before the current contract ends on December 31, St. Peter's hospitals will be out of network for Aetna users in the new year.

A St. Peter's Health Partners spokesperson said that it has been in negotiations with Aetna for over six months trying to reach a fair agreement and that the healthcare system believes Aetna is delaying progress while having yet to offer a fair proposal. St. Peter's Health Partners sent a letter to patients with Aetna insurance encouraging them to contact Aetna to urge them to stay in network.

The spokesperson also said that New York law allows continued hospital access through February 28 for fully insured employer-sponsored commercial benefit plans. St. Peter's advises patients with Aetna to call the number on the back of their insurance card to see whether their benefit plan qualifies.

CVS Health, the parent company of AetnaPlease, released the following statement regarding this situation, "Our network agreement with St. Peter’s Health Partners for Commercial and Medicare health plans ends on December 31 and we are in the contract renewal process. We are hopeful that we will reach an agreement that keeps them in our networks while keeping healthcare services affordable for our members and health plan sponsors."