Insurer’s diabetes wellness program gaining new converts among employers
By: Health Insurance
Submitted: 2009-11-24 18:23:21 | Word Count: 576
Health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare is tackling the escalating crisis in out-of-control health costs with a new approach to preventive care for those at risk or suffering from diabetes.
United’s diabetes health plan is designed to help employer-sponsored health plans control the rising costs of insuring diabetic and pre-diabetic employees and their families while improving their health. Three major companies – General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and Affinia Group – are now working with United on a diabetes health plan pilot project, and all three have either renewed or expanded their participation in the program for 2010, according to the insurer.
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Other employers, including the city of New Orleans and the American Postal Workers Union health plan, will begin offering the plan to diabetic and pre-diabetic employees at the beginning of 2010, United revealed this month.
The diabetes health plan goes further than traditional diabetes wellness programs, the company asserted, “by providing patients with financial rewards for adhering to certain routine preventive care compliance requirements.” Among those requirements are regular blood sugar checks, routine exams and preventive screenings. All those steps “can result in better self-management” of the disease, United stated.
“In addition to helping people live healthier lives, the preventive steps under the diabetes health plan can help significantly lower a diabetic employee's total healthcare costs,” the insurer noted.
According to UnitedHealthcare data, employees with diabetes now generate average health costs of more than $22,000 a year. The American Diabetes Association asserts that 1-out-of-every-5 healthcare dollars is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes, while one in 10 health care dollars is attributed directly to diabetes. Some 24 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, including 24% of whom were undiagnosed. Another 57 million are considered pre-diabetic, ADA research suggests, with about a fourth of them unaware of their condition.
“One of the best ways to control escalating health care costs is to encourage people to adopt healthier behaviors and take preventive steps,” said Deneen Vojta, M.D., SVP of UnitedHealth Group. Vojta called the Diabetes Health Plan “an innovative plan design that goes beyond basic wellness programs and meaningfully engages people based on their individual health needs.”
The program is voluntary. Participants, said United, can receive access to online monitoring and education tools at no charge, as well as training in self-monitoring and certain diabetes-related services and drugs, including insulin, oral anti-glycemics, ARB and ACE, anti-depressants and statins. To remain in the program, plan members must comply with the plan's requirements, based on diabetes and preventive care evidence-based guidelines tailored to meet the needs of each individual.
Plan benefits could save individuals up to $500 a year in addition to their regular health care benefits, according to the insurance firm, by providing some free diabetes supplies and diabetes-related prescription drugs, as well as lower co-payments for related doctor visits. Employees enrolled in the Diabetes Health Plan who lose their employer-based coverage are still eligible for the plan under COBRA, provided their employer offers it and they continue to follow the plan's compliance requirements.
