The insurer plans to increase the footprint for its Medicare Advantage plans by adding 300 additional counties to its service area.
By ELISE REUTER Oct 4, 2020 at 10:00 AM
UnitedHealthcare is
planning a big expansion to its Medicare Advantage plans for 2021. Currently,
more than 6.5 million people are enrolled in its plans. Next year, the insurer
will expand its service area to include another 3.2 million people across 300 counties.
It would make for
UnitedHealthcare’s largest expansion of its Medicare Advantage business in five
years, the company said.
The insurer said most of
its plans would include $0 copays for primary care, behavioral health visits,
routine vision and hearing exams, colonoscopies and mammograms, and cardiac
rehab. It’s also waiving copays for medical and behavioral telehealth visits.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is
a watershed moment that is profoundly altering the health care landscape.
At-home health care went from being a convenient care option to, at times, the
only option for many people,” Tim Noel, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Medicare and
Retirement, said in a news release. “And while COVID-19
changed so much for so many of us, it did not change UnitedHealthcare’s
unwavering commitment to helping people access the care they need, whether in a
clinical setting or at home.”
The company said it is
also offering care navigators for patients who recently went through a surgery
or cancer treatment, or who are managing a chronic illness like diabetes or
COPD. Navigators can help coordinate care and address claims issues, for
example. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, UnitedHealthcare said they
can also help members obtain medication and food while quarantining.
Other insurers, including
Humana and Cigna, have also announced plans to expand their Medicare Advantage
footprint next year.
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