Before You Choose Your 2027 Health Plan, Make Sure You Can Keep Your Doctor

Northern Nevada’s healthcare landscape is changing and your choice of health plan may affect more than your deductible and copay for insurance. It may determine which doctors you can see.

A recent report in the Reno Gazette Journal highlighted changes coming to Northern Nevada’s health insurance market for 2027, including the new Kaiser Permanente and Renown Health partnership and changes involving local HMO networks.

Read the Reno Gazette Journal’s coverage of the changes →

As you consider your health insurance options for 2027, we encourage you to look beyond deductibles and copays.

There is another important question to ask:

Will the health plan you choose allow you to continue seeing the doctors you know and trust?

Don’t Just Check Your Primary Care Doctor

When selecting health insurance, many people start by asking whether their primary care physician is covered.

That’s important but it is only part of the picture.

Your OB-GYN may be one of the physicians you have the longest relationship with. Your care may include annual gynecologic visits, contraception, fertility care, pregnancy, delivery, surgery, menopause and other specialized care over many years.

A change in your insurance network can therefore mean a change in who you are able to see.

Before enrolling in a 2027 plan, ask:

• Is my current OB-GYN in the network?
• If I become pregnant, can I continue seeing my physician throughout my pregnancy and delivery?
• If I need surgery or another specialist, can I choose the physician I want?
• Which hospitals and facilities can my physician use?
• Are there referral, authorization or other network requirements that could affect my care?

A health plan may provide access to your primary care physician while limiting your choice of specialists. Some plans may also encourage or direct patients toward physicians and facilities within a particular healthcare system.

That may be the right choice for some patients.

The important thing is to understand the choice before you enroll.

Why Independent Physicians Matter

Northern Nevada has a long tradition of independent physicians caring for patients in community-based practices.

Independent physicians provide an alternative to hospital-owned and vertically integrated healthcare systems. They give patients another choice in where they receive care and allow physicians to remain directly involved in the ownership and governance of their practices.

OB-GYN Associates has been physician-owned and serving Northern Nevada since 1974.

For more than 50 years, our physicians have cared for generations of women and families in this community.  Our Doctors are the longest tenured in northern Nevada.

We have grown with Northern Nevada while remaining independent from hospital ownership, private equity and other corporate healthcare organizations.

Our physicians, not a hospital system, own and govern our practice. The people making decisions about our practice are the physicians who provide the care.

Independence Can Also Matter to Healthcare Costs

There is an important economic reason to preserve a healthcare system that includes independent physicians:

Competition matters.

Independent practices provide another option alongside hospital-owned and integrated medical groups. That competition can be important for patients, employers and health plans seeking high-quality care at a sustainable cost.

Research has found that hospital ownership and consolidation can be associated with higher healthcare prices and spending.

For example, a recent study examining commercial insurance data found that hospital-affiliated specialists negotiated higher prices than independent specialists in the specialties studied. Another study found higher annual healthcare spending among patients attributed to hospital-owned practices, without finding a consistent difference in the quality measures examined.

These studies are not specific to OB-GYN Associates or to every healthcare service in Northern Nevada, and they do not mean that every independent practice costs less than every hospital-owned practice.

They do demonstrate an important point:

Maintaining a healthcare system that includes independent physicians can preserve competition, patient choice and alternatives to higher-cost forms of healthcare consolidation.

And that matters to patients, employers and our community.

Your Doctor Should Be Part of Your Insurance Decision

Healthcare insurance is often discussed in terms of premiums, deductibles, copays and out-of-pocket maximums.

Those are important considerations.

But your provider network is just as important.

A health plan that looks attractive because of its  benefits may not provide access to the physician you have trusted for years.

For women, that can be especially important when pregnancy, surgery or another significant healthcare need arises.

Don’t wait until you need care to find out whether your physician is in your network or will remain in your network.

Five Questions to Ask Before Choosing Your 2027 Plan

1. Is my OB-GYN included in the specific plan I am considering?
2. If I become pregnant, will I be able to continue seeing my current OB-GYN throughout pregnancy and delivery?
3. If I need surgery or another specialist, will I have a choice of physicians?
4. Which hospitals, surgery centers, imaging facilities and other providers are included?
5. Are there referral, authorization or network requirements that could affect my care?

More Than 50 Years of Independent Care

At OB-GYN Associates, we believe patients should have the information they need to make informed decisions about their healthcare coverage.

We also believe that independent physicians are an important part of Northern Nevada’s healthcare system.

Since 1974, OB-GYN Associates has remained physician-owned and independent while caring for generations of women in this community.

That independence gives our patients another choice.

It allows us to make decisions as physicians about how we practice medicine, how we serve our patients and how we respond to the needs of our community.

We believe Northern Nevada is better served when patients have choices—including the choice between independent physicians and larger integrated healthcare systems.

Know Your Network. Know Your Options.

As you consider your 2027 health plan, don’t just ask:

“What does this plan cost?”

Also ask:

“Who can I see?”

“Where can I receive care?”

“Can I continue seeing the physicians I trust?”

And, if having a choice of physicians matters to you:

“Does this plan include independent physicians?”

Your insurance card should not determine your doctor by surprise.

Before you enroll, check your network or network plans in the future. Know your options. And make sure the physicians you want to care for you are included going forward.

OB-GYN Associates of Reno
Physician-owned. Independent. Serving Northern Nevada since 1974.