UnitedHealth Group - Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response

UnitedHealth Group has invested an initial $70 million to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and support those most directly impacted by the public health emergency, including health care workers, hard-hit states, seniors and people experiencing food insecurity or homelessness.

UnitedHealthcare announced actions that will expand access to testing and medical care, medication, telehealth services and virtual care including rollout of an innovative, personalized digital platform which includes a symptom checker to help members rapidly assess their risk for COVID-19.

Additionally, UnitedHealth Group will provide more than $1.5 billion in initial assistance, including customer premium credits, to its UnitedHealthcare customers as many people have been unable to access routine or planned care due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

These actions build on UnitedHealth Group’s ongoing efforts to fight COVID-19 by applying clinical, analytics and technological expertise to expand coverage, stabilize the health care system, protect the health care workforce, and assist those hardest-hit by the pandemic. Other actions include:

• Waiving cost-sharing for COVID-19 testing and treatment.
• Accelerating nearly $2 billion to health care providers to support liquidity needs.
• Initially investing more than $70 million to help communities in need and protect the health care workforce. This investment includes:
  • $5 million to support the nation’s health care workforce during the COVID-19 crisis, in partnership with the CDC Foundation, Direct Relief and the American Nurses Foundation . The includes:
    • $2 million to the CDC Foundation to support the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as hundreds of thousands of KN95 masks, more than 100,000 surgical masks and tens of thousands of surgical gowns, to disperse to hard-hit states across the nation.
    • $2 million to Direct Relief to support the acquisition of PPE and supplies for frontline health care workers providing care at community health centers, free clinics and mobile clinics across the country.
    • $1 million to the American Nurses Foundation Coronavirus Response Fund for Nurses to help build a virtual support system to promote mental well-being and resilience and recognize nurses’ contributions to fighting the pandemic across the nation.
  • $5 million to provide urgent support for people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation will support national partnerships with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council ($2.5M), Feeding America ($1.5M) and Meals on Wheels America ($1M).
  • $5 million to address social isolation and food insecurity among seniors nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic, in partnership with AARP Foundation. 
  • $10 million to nonprofits in hard hit states, such as Feeding Florida, Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, Seattle-based Downtown Emergency Service Center, Food Bank For New York City, Care For the Homeless in New York City, Food Bank of South Jersey, California Community Foundation, Michigan’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Initiative, Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans, and Covenant House New Orleans.
• Significantly expanding access to telehealth and redeploying 10,000 Optum clinicians to expand telehealth capabilities.
• Converting company cafeterias to provide more than 75,000 meals a week for people in need and keeping our cafe team at work.
• Pioneering a noninvasive, self-administered COVID-19 test that streamlines testing, reduces personal protective equipment usage and increases safety of health care workers.
• Simplifying access to care by reducing prior authorization requirements.
• Providing a special enrollment period for fully insured customers to allow employees who did not opt in for coverage during the regular enrollment period to get coverage.
• Launching a free nationwide emotional support line to manage the stress and anxiety caused by COVID-19.