Now some New Yorkers can literally go shopping for their health benefits. UnitedHealthcare today opened its first comprehensive health benefits store in Flushing, Queens, N.Y.
The 16,000-square-foot consumer-support center gives UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored, Medicare, Medicaid and individual health plan participants access to customer service professionals who can answer questions in their native language about health care benefits, assist in resolving claims issues, and help with other health insurance-related matters. The store is especially geared toward the city's Asian-American community, United says.
"Health care is a local resource, and as consumers are increasingly being asked to play a greater role in their personal health, many people are not quite ready and may need extra support," says UnitedHealthcare CEO Gail Boudreaux.
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Staff is available to help consumers (including people not enrolled in a UnitedHealthcare benefit plan) identify and apply for more than 15 types of state and federal social service programs, including the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage program, Medicare Savings Program, the New York State Food Stamps program, and heat and electric subsidies.
The store has computers and iPads available for visitors to obtain and print health-related information, and a "health screening kiosk" that measures blood pressure, pulse and body mass index. The insurer also will host an ongoing, free series of education seminars on topics regarding nutrition and exercise, disease management and financial planning.
The insurer opened its first New York store in a Chinatown storefront in 1994, which at the time was seen as a culturally relevant way to provide health benefits services.
"For nearly two decades we have been striving toward that goal by helping residents in New York and New Jersey's Asian-American communities live healthier lives," says Christopher Law, national vice president of UnitedHealthcare's Asian Initiatives. "The opening of the new UnitedHealthcare Asian Plaza is the next step in not only improving the health of our plan participants, but the health of our communities."
United also has a walk-in center for Long Island Medicaid members in Hempstead, N.Y.; a storefront for Chinese-American Medicare beneficiaries in Alhambra, Calif.; and a temporary pop-up store in Kingston, Tenn., to help eligible individuals select Medicare health care benefits during the annual enrollment period, which ends Dec. 7.
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