UnitedHealth in plan for low-cost health insurance

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U.S. insurer UnitedHealth Group will participate in a program to sponsor an array of low-cost health insurance options to extend health coverage to uninsured workers.

“United has been committed for some time to addressing the problem of the 45 million uninsured people in America,” UnitedHealth spokesman Mark Lindsay said on Thursday.

Lindsay was speaking to Reuters after The New York Times reported that sixty large employers are joining together for such a program to begin in the fall.

The program will be offered for at least two years and is intended to cover uninsured part-time and temporary workers, contractors, consultants and early retirees, who typically are not eligible for employer health plans, the article said.

Lindsay said his company would offer the four lowest-cost options in all 50 states.

“We’re proud that we’ve developed a set of products which we believe are affordable and address the needs of this population,” he said.

“We don’t believe that this is the only solution for addressing the needs of all uninsured Americans. But we feel that we have an obligation to do what we can to meet this population’s needs.”

The newspaper said the sponsors, to include General Electric Co., IBM, McDonald’s Corp. and Sears, Roebuck and Co., will begin promoting the low-cost plans in April and May to 3 million eligible workers, about 7 percent of the 45 million uninsured Americans.

The companies could not immediately be reached for comment.

The employers will not subsidize the coverage, but the article said their participation created a pool of potential participants sufficiently large to justify lower insurance rates than individuals would have to pay on their own.

The plans will range widely in cost from $5 a month for a card that provides users with discounts for doctors and pharmacies to more than $300 a month for a high-deductible plan that covers major medical and hospital expenses, the article said.

UnitedHealth and Humana Inc. will offer the major medical policies in states where they have been approved by regulators, and Cigna Corp. will offer the program’s major medical option in Arizona, the article said.

Humana and Cigna could not immediately be reached for comment.

The association plans to introduce the program at a conference of employers and consultants in Washington on Monday, according to the article. 

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