UnitedHealthcare launches new interactive website

Oct 7 2009

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, opened Health Care Lane^SM, a new interactive Web site where “townspeople” explain and teach health insurance topics.

Launched in time to prepare consumers for this year’s benefits open enrollment season, Health Care Lane’s “online community” goes beyond helping select the right health plan and provides straightforward conversations about various health-related topics.

Health Care Lane (www.healthcarelane.com) discusses many of the UnitedHealthcare programs available to customers, but the site is not just for UnitedHealthcare plan participants. Anyone can visit the online town to interact with fictitious businesses and their employees, each representing a different health care topic. Visitors can learn about both basic and complex health insurance topics such as what a premium is, the difference between generic and brand-name prescriptions, or the advantages of a Health Savings Account (HSA).

As individuals stroll through town, some of the businesses they can visit include:

• The WiFi Café to learn about online health tools and calculators;
• The Town Bank to learn about Health Savings Accounts;
• The Public Library for definitions of various common health insurance terms;
• The Local City Market for tips on how to reduce their health care costs;
• The Fitness Center to learn about wellness programs and healthy lifestyles; and many others.

“Healthcarelane.com was designed to make it easier for consumers to understand how their health coverage works and the different options available to them,” said Austin Pittman, UnitedHealthcare’s chief growth officer. “We realize health insurance can be complex, so we created an entertaining and educational experience that we believe will help keep people engaged and assist them in getting more out of their benefits.”

UnitedHealthcare employer customers have the option of customizing healthcarelane.com with some of their specific benefits information and company branding, giving their employees a more personalized community to visit to learn about their employer-sponsored benefits.

Health Care Lane offers a practical approach in creating simple easy-to-understand health care information and education. According to a recent National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) survey, approximately 36 percent of all U.S. adults lack the necessary skills to read and understand basic information to manage their health. The study also revealed that 88 percent of all adults are less than proficient when it comes to understanding complex health care topics.

“Research reveals that people learn in multiple ways, so it is important that we use a variety of educational methods to better educate consumers about their health and health insurance benefits,” said Pittman. “Health Care Lane enables people to pick and choose what health topics to learn more about based on their particular interests and preferences. As their health needs change, we anticipate that they will return to healthcarelane.com to learn about more health care topics.”