UHC Going After Restaurant Workers

tajitj

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National Restaurant Assn. and UnitedHealth join on coverage effort for restaurant workers

The initiative is one of the largest private-sector efforts to expand health coverage. Its creators say it could help cover the 4 million to 6 million restaurant employees without health benefits.

The National Restaurant Assn. and insurance giant UnitedHealth Group Inc. are teaming up in a bid to make coverage more accessible to millions of restaurant workers without health benefits — three years ahead of when the healthcare overhaul would require everyone to have insurance.

The initiative, though limited at the outset, marks one of the largest private-sector efforts to expand health insurance coverage.

And its architects said it could ultimately help cover the 4 million to 6 million restaurant employees without health benefits, or about 10% of the nation's current population of uninsured.

The company, however, could still retain the right to deny coverage to those with preexisting conditions, at least until 2014.

The association plans to announce Friday, at its annual convention in Chicago, a website and a menu of insurance plans in Pennsylvania and Colorado and then expand into California, Texas, Florida, Illinois and other states within a year.......

Read the rest here

Thoughts? 4 to 6 million? Maybe just a last ditch effort to sell some policies while it is somewhat profitable and before 2014.
 
If these are indy policies, then ok if they want that market.

Group, that is nuts. Anthem tried it in CA with "BeneFits" and it did absolutely nothing.

Now, I have had friends who owned restaurants. If it's group, nothing could be better than 6 employees on the plan and 22 employees on COBRA. That is a restaurant. Migratory labor force that won't stay more than six months.
 
Good luck. People getting $2 an hour plus tips (cash). It is a high turn over industry. This will be a big challenge. I give them credit for trying and being creative.
 
LINA backed a program like this years ago and was heavily marketed to workers at fast food places like Hardee's. At its' peak they had somewhere around 8,000 participants if I remember correctly. The plan was more of a mini med than major med but the price was right.

The plan fell apart when the guy who designed it was found to have embezzled over $1M from LINA clients.
 
When I worked pt at Applebees, I asked for a summary of benefits for their health plan, it was by Cigna, and it was really bad. Bob you ain't kiddin when you said it looked like more of minimed. I explained to everyone there, the amount they make you pay, you can get your own policy with WAYYYYY better benefits.
Their **** looked like a gutted Celtic plan (if you could believe that).
I told everyone that plan was dangerous to be on...
 
There's a myth out there that if you have a group plan then by definition it's a solid plan. The plan I had at a dealership was one of the worst plans imaginable.

The movie John Q isn't based on an individual plan, but a group plan.
 
Here is the official PR
National Restaurant Association and UnitedHealthcare Create Restaurant Health Care Alliance - MarketWatch

The Restaurant Health Care Alliance launches May 22 and is available to restaurant owners and employees, as well as insurance agents and advisers who serve the restaurant industry.

Qualified small-business member restaurants will be introduced to innovative health plan options offered by UnitedHealthcare that offer significant annual premium savings compared to traditional health plans. In some markets, UnitedHealthcare Catalyst(SM) is one of the options available and combines comprehensive catastrophic plan coverage with an up-front benefit allowance for certain preventive-care services. Individual employees who do not have employer-sponsored coverage can choose from a wide range of UnitedHealthcare's cost-effective individual and family plans, some of which start under $100 per month. Other products, including dental plans and discount health cards, will also be available.
 
Someone has an "inside track" with the CDC in Atlanta and is marketing a mini-med (can't recall which one). Got a call from a lady a few years ago that had the plan. She was paying something on the order of $150/month. She said the plan was "OK" until she needed an emergency appendectomy.

The plan paid something like $1500.

The bill was $22k and change.

Did I have a plan she could buy to pick up the difference?

No, I don't, but she ended up buying a Plan 100 from me and dropping the mini med. Didn't help on past bills, but the 100 was less than her mini med and offered more protection going forward.
 
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