Negotiations are progressing between UNC Health and Cigna, but the two sides have not reached a new deal yet.

Friday marks five days since Cigna dropped UNC Health hospitals from coverage for patients. According to UNC Health, it sent roughly 65,000 letters to patients who used Cigna for services warning them of the contract dispute.

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WRAL News has talked to a number of patients with concerns about the drop in coverage, including people keeping up with routine care through cancer survivors, wanting to maintain their doctors.

As the negotiations continue, the town of Apex is speaking up.

“I am extremely concerned,” Mayor Jacques Gilbert said. “Anything that impacts our staff and their families.”

The town’s employees are covered by Cigna. More than 850 people and their families, according to Town Manager Randy Vosburg.

“This is my work family,” Vosburg said. “[When] anything like this happens, I don’t like it. We’re hopeful this is a short-term thing.”

Vosburg said the town is in near constant contact with UNC Health and Cigna about the negotiations and the need for a deal to get done. He says the town is leveraging its power as a municipality covered by the insurance company.

“We’re applying pressure,” Vosburg said. “I can tell you we’ve sent texts, emails and phone calls to both UNC and to Cigna. We had a meeting with Cigna last week and they are very aware of our position in that relationship. It’s a significant chunk that are on Cigna that also utilize UNC. It’s a big deal and they’re taking it seriously. We know they’re working towards a resolution. We just hope it can come sooner rather than later because of the impacts that are coming.”

It's much larger than the 850-plus employees running the town of Apex, according to Gilbert.

“I have police officers, firefighters, members of our public works, electric utilities,” Gilbert said. “These are people [who] serve our community every day.”

It’s these people who help give Apex its motto as “The peak of living.” But Gilbert says the quality of life in Apex is only as good as the health of its employees.

“There are members of our community, 82,000 residents, [who] depend on our response with our emergency staff,” Gilbert said. “We [have] to take care of the people [who] take care of us.”

UNC Health tells WRAL News, “UNC Health continues to negotiate with Cigna and we remain hopeful that we can reach a new agreement. We also continue to help patients avoid disruptions to their care, including working with them to submit ‘Continuity of Care’ requests with Cigna.”

Cigna has not yet replied to WRAL News’ newest requests for updates on Friday.

Cigna released a statement on Monday saying that it has offered to extend the current contract with UNC.

"Our goal is to keep UNC Health in network, and we have offered to extend our current contract,” Cigna’s statement reads. “We remain engaged in discussions with a goal of reaching a fair agreement for our customers and their families.”

Related: ‘Incredible stress’: Parents of sick baby scramble for care amid UNC Health-Cigna stalemate

As the negotiations roll into the weekend, Vosburg’s eyes are towards the end of the year. A change in the calendar could mean a change in coverage.

“If it goes into the new year, then that’s when those discussions are going to ramp up,” he said.

The lack of a solution between UNC Health and Cigna could spell the possibility of a New Year’s resolution without Cigna for Apex.

“I think everything is on the table,” Vosburg said. “We’d have to look at our contracts, but that’s definitely something that we would be examining.”