UnitedHealth to Serve Business Health Care Group Members

Health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) announced that it has won a big southeast Wisconsin insurance contract from The Business Health Care Group.

Business Health Care Group was formed almost a decade ago by the CEOs of some of Milwaukee’s largest corporations that were faced by health care cost increases and a higher cost of health care in the region.

While UnitedHealth will not provide insurance to the members of Business Health Care Group, it will provide administrative services to the latter. Such administrative services include the preparation of an administration manual, communication with employees, determination and payment of benefits, claims processing, actuarial analysis and utilization review.

The services will be available via UnitedHealth effective Jan 1, 2016. UnitedHealth will, however, promote its products to the group's member employers in 11 counties, namely Dodge, Jefferson, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Rock, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington and Waukesha.

The contract is a major win for UnitedHealth which will increase its fees from the Administrative Services Only (ASO) channel since Business Health Care Group will bring in members comprising 1,000 southeastern Wisconsin businesses of all sizes representing more than 70,000 employees. Prior to this, Business Health Care Group had a partnership with another health insurer, Humana Inc. (HUM).

The agreement with UnitedHealth will enable Business Health Care Group participants to get higher quality care and better outcome at a reasonable cost by providing consumers access to its broad network of hospitals and physicians, which will offer Business Health Care Group members dedicated services and community resources. The members will also be able to get services at all locations in U.S.

UnitedHealth carries a Zacks Rank # 2 (Buy). Other stocks worth considering include Centene Corp. (CNC) and Anthem, Inc. (ANTM). While Centene carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), the other one sport the same Zacks Rank as UnitedHealth.