Cancer patients across Tampa are staring down a financial curveball as Moffitt Cancer Center drops out of network for some major Medicare Advantage plans. Aetna’s individual Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans stopped covering Moffitt on Dec. 1, 2025, and Humana plans are scheduled to drop the center on July 1, 2026. Many patients in active treatment say suddenly facing higher copays or full out‑of‑pocket charges is simply impossible while they are focused on staying alive.
According to Moffitt Cancer Center, Aetna terminated its Medicare Advantage participation effective Dec. 1, 2025, and Humana will end participation for certain Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans on July 1, 2026. Moffitt warns that these changes could lead to higher out‑of‑pocket costs, extra authorizations or denied claims for affected patients. Humana says members will receive continuity‑of‑care support and personalized help to transition to other in‑network providers. The cancer center says it will keep treating Aetna and Humana Medicare Advantage patients on an out‑of‑network basis while working with insurers to obtain authorizations for people in active treatment.
Heather Curley, a Tampa woman who receives weekly care at Moffitt for metastatic breast cancer, told Tampa Bay 28 that she cannot shoulder the bills if her Humana Medicare Advantage plan goes out of network. “I can’t pay out of pocket,” Curley said, warning that treatment costs could climb into the tens of thousands. Curley, who enrolled in a clinical trial that has extended her life beyond early expectations, said the insurance disruption feels like an extra, unfair fight on top of battling cancer…