UnitedHealthcare and Valley Preferred to Offer New Suite of Flexible, Affordable Health Plans for Lehigh Valley Businesses

Lehigh Valley business owners now have available to them a new suite of affordable, flexible health plan options under a partnership between UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company (NYSE: UNH), and Valley Preferred, a Lehigh Valley-based preferred provider organization and community partnership of doctors and hospitals. Employers may choose from 11 plan designs within Valley Series plans’ Choice, Choice Plus and consumer-driven health (CDH) products including health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement accounts (HRAs). Through Valley Series, employees have the lowest overall out-of-pocket expenses when accessing 33 of the region’s hospitals and more than 3,000 physicians and health care professionals featuring the Valley Preferred network. Enrollees may also realize out-of-pocket cost savings by seeking care within UnitedHealthcare’s Eastern Pennsylvania network, which includes an additional 46 hospitals and more than 12,000 physicians. People also have the option of accessing any health care service provider within UnitedHealthcare’s national network of more than 560,000 physicians and other health care professionals and 4,800 hospitals. Choice Plus and CDH products also offer an out-of-network option. In addition, Valley Series offers disease management programs – administered by UnitedHealthcare and Valley Preferred physicians – for enrollees with chronic conditions including asthma, diabetes, hypertension and congestive heart failure. Also, Valley Series will adopt Valley Preferred’s "Care Beyond the Coverage,” a corporate health-enhancement program that may be tailored to each employer’s needs and includes on-site health and wellness education, corporate health fairs, health seminars, employee assistance programs, health screenings and health awareness profiles. "This partnership with Valley Preferred means more choice and greater flexibility to area business owners who wish to offer affordable health care to their employees,” said Thomas N. Pappas, CEO of UnitedHealthcare of Pennsylvania. "The Valley Series gives employees more options and greater oversight over how they spend their health care dollars, while also providing access to a broad national network of health care professionals without referrals, covering preventive care services at 100 percent, and offering customized health and wellness programs.” "As health care costs continue to rise, we must help people live healthier lives, and this responsibility lies with all of us – consumers, medical professionals, health insurance providers and employers,” said Gregory Kile, executive director and CEO of Valley Preferred. "UnitedHealthcare understands that better overall community health can only be achieved by working closely with the medical community. Our disease management and wellness programs are an extension of what our physicians do for patients every day.” Tom Huntzinger, a manager with the general agency Emerson Reid, applauded the product launch. "We are pleased that UnitedHealthcare will have a greater leadership presence in the Lehigh Valley area. A competitive health care marketplace ensures that we can provide employers with a broad choice of health care products and services at different price points to meet their needs.” Susan Sartoretto, director of UnitedHealthcare’s Lehigh Valley office, added: "We believe the Valley Series is the first of its kind in this community. It reinforces our efforts to work closely with local physicians and other health care providers and to deliver more flexible health care coverage options for Lehigh Valley residents.” About Valley Preferred Valley Preferred, Pennsylvania’s leading provider-owned, preferred provider organization and community partnership of doctors and hospitals, links local businesses and individuals with contracted health insurance companies. Through its brand’s performance promise of "Care Beyond the Coverage” and corporate health enhancement program, Valley Preferred is dedicated to providing business clients with a wide spectrum of health and wellness initiatives to promote healthier lifestyles and a culture of wellness in the workplace. For more facts, visit www.valleypreferred.com. About UnitedHealthcare UnitedHealthcare (www.unitedhealthcare.com) provides a full spectrum of consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services. The company organizes access to quality, affordable health care services on behalf of more than 25 million individual consumers, contracting directly with more than 560,000 physicians and care professionals and 4,800 hospitals nationwide to offer them broad, convenient access to services nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.