Cleveland Clinic accepts most major commercial insurers, Original Medicare, a long list of Medicare Advantage plans, Ohio Medicaid managed care plans, TRICARE, and several Affordable Care Act marketplace plans. What insurance Cleveland Clinic accepts in practice, though, depends on your exact plan and the facility you’re visiting: two patients carrying cards from the same company can have very different coverage based on the specific product their employer or marketplace plan selected.1Cleveland Clinic. Accepted Insurance
Major Commercial Insurers
Cleveland Clinic’s Northeast Ohio locations are in-network with many of the largest national and regional commercial carriers, including Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Medical Mutual of Ohio, and Humana. Regional plans like SummaCare, Aultcare, The Health Plan, and several UPMC products also appear on the list, which runs to several dozen carriers in total.1Cleveland Clinic. Accepted Insurance
Being on that list is not the same as being covered. Cleveland Clinic’s own guidance tells patients the list is for reference only and that you should always confirm with your health plan that Cleveland Clinic is included.1Cleveland Clinic. Accepted Insurance A UnitedHealthcare PPO may be in-network while a narrow-network UnitedHealthcare HMO is not. Some products are limited to specific facilities: American Health Holding and Paramount, for example, are accepted only at the main campus. Carriers renegotiate contracts periodically, so a plan that worked last year may not work this year.
In-network status drives what you pay. With a negotiated rate, your cost is typically a predictable copay or a percentage of the discounted price. Out-of-network care flips that: higher deductibles, steeper coinsurance, and the possibility of being billed the gap between the charge and what your plan pays.
ACA Marketplace Plans
Cleveland Clinic accepts a narrower, heavily location-dependent set of marketplace plans. The current list includes Cleveland Clinic + Oscar (with the broadest access), Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Pathway HMO, Ambetter/Buckeye Health Plan, CareSource Marketplace, Molina Healthcare Marketplace, and SummaCare SC Connect.1Cleveland Clinic. Accepted Insurance
Most of these are restricted to a single facility. Ambetter, Molina, and SummaCare SC Connect are accepted only at Mercy Hospital. CareSource Marketplace works at Akron General, Union Hospital, and Mercy Hospital, but not the main campus. If you’re shopping an exchange plan specifically to reach the main campus or the specialty institutes, Cleveland Clinic + Oscar is the most direct route.
Medicare
Original Medicare (Parts A and B) is accepted across Cleveland Clinic. Any patient enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare can be seen without network restrictions, consistent with the program’s design that lets you see any provider accepting Medicare assignment anywhere in the country.2Medicare.gov. Parts of Medicare
Medicare Advantage
Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans are run by private insurers and impose their own networks, so you need to check your specific plan. Cleveland Clinic participates with a wide range of Medicare Advantage products, including AARP Medicare Advantage (through UnitedHealthcare) at multiple tiers, Aetna Medicare, Anthem BCBS Medicare Preferred and Select, Humana Choice and Gold Plus, Medical Mutual of Ohio Medicare Advantage, Devoted Health, and Molina Healthcare Medicare Advantage, among others.1Cleveland Clinic. Accepted Insurance
Numerous dual-eligible special needs plans (D-SNPs) for patients enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid are also accepted, including options from Aetna, Anthem MyCare, Buckeye MyCare, CareSource, Molina, and Wellcare. One change worth flagging: as of January 1, 2025, Cleveland Clinic facilities and providers in Florida are no longer in-network for AvMed Medicare Advantage members.1Cleveland Clinic. Accepted Insurance
Traveling to Cleveland Clinic from out of state on Medicare Advantage? Check whether your plan has a travel benefit. Some Medicare Advantage plans cover out-of-network care while you travel, charging the same cost-sharing you’d pay at home, and when such a benefit exists, federal rules require it to cover at least six months of out-of-network care. Without a travel benefit, non-emergency care outside your plan’s service area can cost significantly more or go uncovered.
Ohio Medicaid
Cleveland Clinic accepts Medicaid through Ohio’s managed care plans. The participating plans are AmeriHealth Caritas of Ohio, Anthem Medicaid, Buckeye Community Healthplan Medicaid, CareSource Medicaid, Humana Medicaid, Molina Healthcare Medicaid, and UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio Medicaid.1Cleveland Clinic. Accepted Insurance
Medicaid managed care plans frequently require prior authorization for specialist visits and certain procedures, so plan ahead when scheduling non-urgent care. Out-of-state Medicaid is generally not covered; Medicaid is state-run, and Cleveland Clinic’s accepted list is the Ohio product lineup.
TRICARE and VA Coverage
Cleveland Clinic accepts both Humana Military TRICARE Select (the PPO-style option) and Humana Military TRICARE Prime (the HMO-style option).1Cleveland Clinic. Accepted Insurance TRICARE Prime typically requires referrals for specialty care; TRICARE Select allows more flexibility. Confirm your plan type and any referral requirements before scheduling.
Veterans receiving care through the VA may also access Cleveland Clinic through the VA Community Care program. The program authorizes outside care when a VA facility cannot provide the needed service, when the veteran lives in a state without a full-service VA facility, when the veteran and their VA provider agree outside care is in the veteran’s best medical interest, or when the VA cannot meet designated wait-time and drive-time standards.3U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Eligibility for Community Care Outside VA Those standards are 30 minutes average drive time or 20 days for primary care and mental health, and 60 minutes or 28 days for specialty care. VA authorization is required before community care to ensure coverage.
Employer-Sponsored and Out-of-State Plans
Most working Americans get coverage through their employer, and whether that plan includes Cleveland Clinic depends on what the employer negotiated. Two coworkers at different companies who both carry Anthem Blue Cross could have different network access. Large employers frequently negotiate custom arrangements, and self-funded plans (where the employer pays claims directly rather than buying a policy) have even more flexibility to include or exclude specific providers.
Plan type matters too. PPO plans generally offer some out-of-network coverage, so you may still see Cleveland Clinic providers at a higher cost even when the system isn’t in your network. HMO plans rarely cover out-of-network care except in emergencies. EPO plans sit in between, with varying rules about out-of-area care. Some employers also use tiered networks that place hospitals in different cost categories, affecting your copay or coinsurance.
For out-of-state patients, the same logic applies. PPO products with national networks often treat Cleveland Clinic as in-network; HMOs almost never cover non-emergency care outside their home service area. If no direct contract exists, you’ll be treated as out-of-network, which can mean higher deductibles, coinsurance calculated on billed charges rather than negotiated rates, and the possibility of balance billing for non-emergency services.
How to Confirm Your Plan Before You Schedule
The most reliable step is calling Cleveland Clinic’s insurance verification line at 844.500.9451. Representatives can confirm whether your specific plan is accepted at the specific location where you want care, and you can request a callback from a Patient Financial Advocate through the same number.1Cleveland Clinic. Accepted Insurance Have your insurance card ready; the group number and plan code help staff identify your exact product quickly.
Call your insurer too. Cleveland Clinic’s own guidance is that regardless of what an insurer’s online directory shows, you should confirm directly with your health plan that the facility and provider you want are covered under your specific policy. For a cost preview, Cleveland Clinic offers an online cost estimator that generates a financial estimate based on your coverage and the service you’re scheduling, and Ohio hospital price lists reflecting charges as of January 1, 2026, are published online.4Cleveland Clinic. Patient Price Lists
If You’re Uninsured or Your Plan Isn’t Accepted
Patients without insurance, or whose insurance won’t cover a needed service, may qualify for Cleveland Clinic’s financial assistance program. Updated as of January 1, 2026, the program provides free care for patients with family income up to 250% of the federal poverty guidelines and discounted care for those between 251% and 400% of the federal poverty guidelines, with the discounted rate set at the amount Cleveland Clinic generally bills insured patients.5Cleveland Clinic. Summary of Financial Assistance The program is available to residents of Ohio, Florida, and Nevada, matching Cleveland Clinic’s facility locations.
Additional pathways include a catastrophic balance provision, when outstanding charges from a single episode of care exceed 25% of annual family income (excluding situations where Cleveland Clinic is out-of-network by patient choice); exceptional circumstances based on extreme personal or financial hardship, reviewed case by case; and special medical circumstances where treatment can only be provided by Cleveland Clinic staff or continuity of care matters. Ohio residents at or below 100% of the federal poverty guidelines may also qualify for free emergency and medically necessary hospital services through Ohio’s Hospital Care Assurance Program (HCAP).
If you’re uninsured or choose not to use your insurance, federal law gives you the right to a good faith estimate of expected charges before a scheduled service, including costs from all providers reasonably expected to be involved in your care.6CMS.gov. Overview of Rules and Fact Sheets You can request one at any time.7Cleveland Clinic. Financial Assistance The No Surprises Act also prohibits out-of-network providers from balance billing you for emergency services and limits what you can be charged when an out-of-network provider treats you at an in-network facility; in those situations, your cost-sharing is calculated as if the provider were in-network and counts toward your in-network deductible and out-of-pocket maximum.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 300gg-111 – Preventing Surprise Medical Bills