UnitedHealthcare making healthier foods available and affordable to more Wisconsin health plan participants
- Up to 550,000 eligible UnitedHealthcare plan participants can get discounts on healthy food options at select supermarkets statewide
- Expanded program available to UnitedHealthcare BadgerCare Plus members, and select self-funded employer and individual exchange plan participants
MILWAUKEE (June 2, 2015) – UnitedHealthcare is expanding its Healthy Savings™ program to an additional 550,000 plan participants in Wisconsin, enabling people enrolled in self-funded employer, individual exchange and BadgerCare Plus Medicaid plans to purchase healthier foods at discounted prices.
Healthy Savings provides potential monthly savings of more than $150 on prequalified healthy foods from more than 140 food and beverage brands. Eligible UnitedHealthcare plan participants will receive a Healthy Savings card in the mail. After their card is activated online at www.uhcwihealthysavings.com, participants will be able to shop for the promoted healthy foods and scan their card during checkout at 119 Roundy’s Supermarkets locations in Wisconsin, including four Metro Market®, 25 Copps® and 90 Pick ’n Save® stores statewide.
With the Healthy Savings program there is no clipping, printing or downloading of coupons, as discounts are preloaded on the program card each week. Members simply shop for promoted healthier foods and scan their card to automatically receive the discount.
The Healthy Savings website also enables people to find nearby participating grocery stores, track accumulated savings through the program, view health information on serving sizes and portions, create a shopping list, and find recipes using healthy and nutritious ingredients.
Promotional discounts are offered weekly on products in the healthiest one-third of items in a grocery store. Healthy Savings offers discounts on items such as milk, whole-grain bread, lean meats, yogurt and produce from more than 140 brands. The food items are measured by the nationally renowned Guiding Stars® nutrition guidance system, which rates the nutritional quality of food using information from the nutrition facts label and the ingredients list.
The technology behind the Healthy Savings program is powered by Solutran Inc., a Minnesota-based technology company specializing in electronic payment solutions.
In February, UnitedHealthcare introduced the Healthy Savings program to more than 100,000 fully insured employer-based and Medicaid SSI plan participants in Wisconsin. Since then, the program saw more than 400,000 visits to the Healthy Savings website, prompting UnitedHealthcare to expand the program to additional plan participants statewide, including BadgerCare Plus members beginning May 1, and people enrolled in self-funded employer and individual exchange plan participants beginning July 1. Self-funded employer plans will have the ability to opt into the program to provide their employees access to Healthy Savings.
“Healthy Savings gives people the opportunity to make healthier food choices and improve their diets, which will enhance their health and well-being,” said Dustin Hinton, president and CEO, UnitedHealthcare of Wisconsin. “The feedback from our plan participants during the first few months of the program has been tremendous, and demonstrates that people want to eat healthier. By expanding Healthy Savings we are able to deliver healthy options to a wider audience at a lower cost.”
“Healthy Savings provides our plan participants throughout Wisconsin additional opportunities to make healthier food choices and live healthier lives,” said Pamela Stahl, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Wisconsin. “Healthy Savings is another resource allowing families to have access to healthy foods at affordable prices.”
UnitedHealthcare serves more than 1.4 million people in Wisconsin with a care provider network of 142 hospitals and more than 25,000 physicians statewide. UnitedHealthcare BadgerCare Plus coverage is available in 54 of the 72 counties throughout Wisconsin.
About Healthy Savings™
Healthy Savings™ is a program which enables health insurance members to save on healthier foods without having to clip, print or download coupons. Solutran S3 technology serves as the supporting substantiation platform behind the Healthy Savings™ program. The mission of Healthy Savings™ is to unlock the enormous potential within each individual with the goal of working together to improve the way America eats.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.
