5 health plan features to look for during open enrollment

During open enrollment season for health benefits, you may be focused on selecting major medical coverage to help improve access to care and for financial protection, in case you experience a health issue, illness or accident.

While those are valuable aspects of having a health plan, it is also important to be aware of the additional benefits that might be available to select during the enrollment process, such as vision, dental or hearing coverage. Plus, some health plans may feature other programs designed to improve your well-being and help you maximize the value of your benefits. 

A growing number of health plans are featuring programs designed to encourage members to adopt healthier habits and access preventative care, offering the opportunity to earn real dollars that can be used to save on health care costs or spent in other ways. For instance, your health plan may offer access to a consumer engagement program that leverages wearable devices and smartphones to simplify how members earn rewards for adopting healthier habits. Eligible members may be able to earn rewards for completing various daily or one-time health goals and can redeem the incentives for an array of options, including to help pay for out-of-pocket medical costs or to cover the monthly cost of a digital fitness app subscription.

In some UnitedHealthcare plans, eligible members, including covered spouses, can use wearable devices to earn $300 – or as much as $1,000 – each year by completing various daily health goals or one-time activities.¹ Programs such as UnitedHealthcare Rewards offer numerous ways for eligible members to earn and redeem financial incentives, including an option that enables participants to upfront pay $0 for Apple Watch² and then use program rewards to pay toward the price of the device.

Other redemption options enable members to receive a pre-paid debit card, have rewards deposited into a health savings account (HSA) to help cover out-of-pocket medical expenses, or to help pay for monthly gym membership or digital fitness subscription fees.³  

Costs are likely top of mind as you make your health care decisions for next year. Look for health plans that offer programs that can help you save on needed health care expenses, like providers visits, primary care physician visits, urgent care visits, 24/7 virtual visits, outpatient behavioral health visits and more. By incentivizing people to access preventive care, these programs are designed to help drive positive health behaviors, which may improve health outcomes and lower the overall costs of care.

For instance, some UnitedHealthcare members may have access to Care Cash®, which features a preloaded debit card that can be used to help pay towards cost sharing for certain eligible in-network health care expenses. Members receive $200 for the year for individual coverage or $500 for family coverage. 

Our digital world has many people logging numerous hours in front of screens, resulting in increased exposure to blue light. This excess screen time may contribute to digital eye strain, which includes symptoms such as dry eyes, itching, blurring of vision and headaches. To help reduce excessive exposure to blue light, UnitedHealthcare Vision members have access to discounts of up to 20% on Eyesafe® blue light screen protectors for smartphones, tablets and laptop computers.

Depending on your vision benefit selection, your vision plan may include support for correcting eyesight. Eligible UnitedHealthcare Vision members can visit a provider to receive corrective eyewear, including glasses or contacts with access to the nation’s largest commercial vision network of more than 175,000 access points nationwide.⁵ If eyewear isn’t preferred, eligible UnitedHealthcare Vision members have access to discounts on laser vision correction, including LASIK, a surgery that uses a laser to permanently reshape the cornea to improve vision and lessen the need for glasses and/or contacts.

Leaving crooked teeth untreated might not only affect your willingness to smile but may also lead to problems like tooth decay and gum disease. Funds from a health savings account or a flexible spending account can be used to address dental issues, including misaligned teeth.

One option may be home-delivered clear aligners for improving your smile. Some dental plans with orthodontic coverage help connect members to a licensed dentist and reimburse qualifying costs for personalized clear teeth aligners.

A growing number of people are at risk for noise-induced hearing loss due to exposure to loud sounds. Research by Johns Hopkins has found the health of your hearing may impact your likelihood of developing other conditions, such as dementia and depression. Nearly 29 million adults in the U.S. with hearing loss could benefit from hearing aids, according to the National Institutes of Health.

With some employer-sponsored or most Medicare Advantage plans, you may have coverage for an annual hearing assessment with a hearing care professional and custom-programmed prescription hearing aids. This can result in significant savings.⁶ Some plans may also include coverage for new over-the-counter hearing aids for individuals with self-diagnosed mild-to-moderate hearing loss interested in a more self-guided experience.