Paying for health care, made simpler
UnitedHealthcare is working to give employees more visibility into costs prior to receiving care, as well as better support when it comes time to pay for care.
About 60% of employees face financial instability, according to a survey, which can impact their mental health and job performance due to stress.1 In fact, financial anxiety affects 78% of employees, with 44% reporting that it hinders their work performance.1
That anxiety may be exacerbated when there’s confusion around their medical bills or uncertainty around when a bill will come and how much will be due.2 To make matters worse, misunderstanding health insurance can also cost employees money in the form of out-of-network provider visits or uncovered procedures.
“People do not understand health insurance,” says George Dippel, president of Deft Research. “They only begin to understand health insurance when the bills come in. That’s not an ideal time to learn.”
That’s why UnitedHealthcare is working alongside employers to help make paying for health care simpler for every member, every day, by offering:
- Cost clarity with upfront pricing information to help members better understand the cost of care
- Broader coverage with savings opportunities embedded into health plans to help offset employee health care costs
- Financial assistance with strategies built to make paying for care easier and to help employees navigate the billing process
A one-pager on paying for health care
Paying for health care can feel confusing. Employees may get multiple statements for a given provider visit and wonder, “What do I actually owe?” UnitedHealthcare is working alongside employers to make paying for health care simpler for every employee and member. Every day.
Cost clarity
Giving employees a peek behind the curtain when it comes to costs can go a long way toward clearing up health plan confusion.
Employers can provide their workforces more visibility into costs by offering health plans like Surest®, a UnitedHealthcare company, which provides cost and coverage options in advance that can help factor into employees’ decisions about where to seek care.
Employers can also encourage employees to use the tools that may already be at their disposal. For instance, at UnitedHealthcare, enhancements made to the UnitedHealthcare® app and myuhc.com® aim to allow for easier navigation and offer upfront cost estimates for care.
Broader coverage
Employers can support employees by offering access to benefits with embedded savings opportunities to help offset their costs, which is especially helpful since about 66% of Americans reported living paycheck to paycheck.3 These benefits may help employees get more value out of their employer-sponsored health plans.
That may look like health plans that offer $0 copays for network primary care, urgent care and virtual care visits. Or it may extend to prescriptions like the 5 vital medications — albuterol, epinephrine, glucagon, insulin and naloxone — UnitedHealthcare offers eligible members with a $0 copay.
Granting coverage at the get-go may also include extending financial benefits to help remove some of the stress when it comes time to pay for bills. For instance, UnitedHealthcare offers Care Cash®, a pre-loaded debit card with up to $200 for individuals and $500 for families that can be used to pay towards cost sharing for certain network health care expenses.
Rewarding employees for good health care choices may help spur better health outcomes and lower costs over the long-term. UnitedHealthcare Rewards, for instance, offers financial incentives for completing a health survey, getting 30 active minutes of fitness a day and tracking 14 days of sleep, among other healthy living activities.
Financial assistance
Sometimes unexpected emergencies occur. Accidents happen, and “surprise” bills come in the mail. With around 50% of Americans unable to cover a $1,000 emergency from their savings,4 it becomes especially important to provide support when unforeseen events happen.
Employers can have their employees’ backs by offering additional supplemental health plans for covered events like longer hospital stays, accidents and critical illness. UnitedHealthcare Benefit Ally® bundles supplemental health products with an employee’s health plan to automatically pay out a financial benefit during an eligible medical event.*
And then, if an out-of-network bill comes in the mail, employees may also have resources like Naviguard® that can help them sort out and resolve their medical bills. Plus, to further help simplify the process of paying for claims, members can now pay directly through the UnitedHealthcare app and myuhc.com, using a credit or debit card, ACH or health savings account (HSA).
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