UnitedHealthcare and Assurant Employee Benefits are pitching in to help the millions of residents affected by Hurricane Irene.

UnitedHealthcare is taking special measures to help ensure plan participants residing in affected counties along the East coast have access to care and prescription medications. The company is also providing financial support of the Red Cross while it works toward relief efforts.

Specifically, UnitedHealthcare is providing:

• Access to care: Plan participants who have been displaced from their homes or whose network medical facility or physician is not accessible can call customer care at the number located on the back of their medical ID card for assistance. If necessary, customer care professionals will help them obtain in-network benefits if a network provider is not available. UnitedHealthcare plan participants who do not have their medical ID cards can call 866-633-2446, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. (in the local time zone), Monday through Friday. This includes plan participants enrolled in all fully insured commercial products, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement plans and Medicaid plans. This policy is effective immediately and will remain active until at least Sept. 9, 2011.

• Early prescription refills: People who have been displaced (or were displaced before the storm) or do not have access to their medications will be able to have prescriptions refilled early. Plan participants obtaining a refill are asked to alert the pharmacist that they were affected by the hurricane in order to ensure the early prescription refill request is processed appropriately. This includes plan participants enrolled in all fully insured commercial products, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Supplement, Medicare Part D offerings or Medicaid plans (as applicable) insured through UnitedHealthcare. For mail-order delivery service to affected areas or any other questions related to their prescriptions, people are encouraged to call the pharmacy number on the back of their medical or prescription ID card, or speak directly to their pharmacist about their situation in order to get an early refill, if necessary. This policy is effective immediately and will remain active until at least Sept. 9, 2011.

• Support for the American Red Cross: Through a $500,000 annual commitment, UnitedHealthcare participates in the Annual Disaster Giving Program of the American Red Cross, which is offering shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to people in the affected communities.

Assurant Employee Benefits is also reaching out to those affected by Irene. To assist those in the affected states and allow them to recoup the time they may have lost thanks to the storm, Assurant:

• Extended grace periods for payment of premiums in accordance with state guidelines.
• Provided flexible time limits as needed to address circumstances of specific policyholders.
• Allowed displaced policyholders to seek out-of-network dental care at the in-network level through Friday, Sept. 2, 2011.