Healthy Savings Program Helps Make Healthier Foods More Affordable for UnitedHealthcare Plan Participants

Chicago, IL, (Aug 03, 2015) — Starting in August, people in northern Illinois and northwest Indiana who are enrolled in a UnitedHealthcare fully insured employer-sponsored health plan or purchased health insurance on the individual exchange will be able to buy healthier foods at discounted prices through its Healthy Savings™ pilot program.

Healthy Savings provides potential monthly savings of $150 on prequalified healthy foods from more than 140 food and beverage brands. Eligible UnitedHealthcare plan participants will receive a Healthy Savings card in the mail. After the card is activated online at www.HealthySavingsUHC.com, participants can shop for promoted healthy foods and scan their card during checkout at 184 Jewel-Osco®, 32 Mariano’s™ and 45 Shop ‘n Save® locations throughout Illinois and northwest Indiana. Forty-four County Market® stores will be added in the fall.

Up to 100,000 UnitedHealthcare plan participants qualify for the Healthy Savings program by working for an employer based in northern Illinois (including Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Iroquois, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry, Will and Winnebago counties) or northwest Indiana (Lake, LaPorte and Porter counties).

“Healthy Savings makes it easier for people to make healthier food choices and improve their diets, which will make a tremendous difference in their health and well-being,” said Colleen Van Ham, president and CEO, UnitedHealthcare of Illinois and Northwest Indiana.

With the Healthy Savings program there is no clipping, printing or downloading of coupons, as discounts are preloaded on the program card each week. Members simply shop for promoted healthier foods and scan their card to automatically receive the discounts.

The Healthy Savings website and mobile app enables shoppers to find nearby participating grocery stores, track accumulated savings through the program, view health information on serving sizes and portions, create a shopping list, and find recipes using healthy and nutritious ingredients.

Promotional discounts are offered weekly on products that are in the healthiest one-third of items in a typical grocery store. Healthy Savings offers include discounts on items such as milk, whole-grain bread, lean meats, yogurt and produce. The food items are scored by the nationally renowned Guiding Stars® nutrition guidance system, which rates the nutritional density of foods using information from the nutrition facts label and the ingredients list.

UnitedHealthcare serves more than 1.3 million people in Illinois and northwest Indiana with a network of 233 hospitals and more than 36,000 physicians and other care providers statewide.

The technology behind the Healthy Savings program is powered by Solutran, Inc., a Minnesota-based technology company specializing in electronic benefit transfer systems and payment solutions.

 

About Healthy Savings™

Healthy Savings is a program which enables health insurance members to save on healthier foods without having to clip, print or download coupons. Solutran S3™ technology serves as the supporting substantiation platform behind the Healthy Savings™ program. The mission of Healthy Savings™ is to unlock the enormous potential within each individual with the goal of working together to improve the way America eats.

 

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, military service members, retirees and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.