United 24, a benefit plan that integrates health, worker’s compensation and disability coverage, is expanding the territory in which the product is available and adding a second health-insurance option.
United 24 is owned by Cobalt Corporation, the parent company of Blue Cross & Blue Shield United of Wisconsin, CompcareBlue, United Heartland and United Wisconsin Group.
The United 24 product is now available with Blue Cross PPO coverage as the health-insurance component. Previously, United 24 combined health coverage through CompcareBlue with worker’s compensation provided by United Heartland and disability through United Wisconsin Group.
“We are delighted to be able to expand United 24,” said Mary Traver, vice president of Integrated Benefits for Cobalt. “The product has worked well for our customers in the Compcare service territory. Adding a Blue Cross option allows us to deliver integrated benefits throughout the state of Wisconsin.”
“As employers are struggling under the weight of rising insurance costs, a product that delivers administrative efficiencies and lower claim costs is much needed in the market,” Traver continued. “When we analyzed our 2001 financial results, we found United 24 was saving money on all three lines of coverage. It just made sense to expand the product’s availability.”
United 24’s integrated administration of the three lines of coverage allows the company to apply the best practices of each line to the other two. An example of the efficiency gained through combined administration is United 24’s treatment of non-work related disabilities, where light duty and early return to work concepts are applied.
According to a survey conducted by the Integrated Benefits Institute, 97% of physicians said getting a patient back on the job quickly is good medicine and aids the healing process.
But the survey also found that nearly three quarters of the physicians feel they lack information about the patient’s job duties and what light duty opportunities are available in the workplace. “United 24 fills this information gap,” said Traver. “We work with the physician, the employer and the patient to return the patient to the job as early as medically advisable.”
March 15, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
