UnitedHealthcare Insurance Review
Editor's Rating
Individual health insurance policies through UnitedHealthcare (UHC) are more expensive than average. But these plans usually come with added benefits and access to wellness programs. Many customers rate UHC well due to its supportive customer service department and smartphone app. UHC is the largest health insurance company by total policyholders. The company offers many different products, including health, dental, vision and disability insurance.
Plans and options
UnitedHealthcare offers several types of health insurance, including:
Specific policy options and costs vary by state. You should carefully review a policy that is specific to your state before deciding to purchase it.
Individual health insurance
Individual health insurance plans are available through UnitedHealthcare and can be bought on the federal health insurance marketplace or your state's marketplace. UnitedHealthcare offers five different tiers of coverage:
- Catastrophic
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Platinum
Since these policies are only offered on health insurance marketplaces, you can only buy a UnitedHealthcare individual plan during open enrollment or if you have a special enrollment period (SEP) exception.
Find Cheap Health Insurance in Your Area
UHC individual health insurance plans are not a cheap health insurance option when compared to plans offered by some of the other largest health insurance companies in the country. For example, a Silver policy from Aetna is $96 cheaper each month than the same level policy from UnitedHealthcare.
Average monthly rate for UnitedHealthcare vs. competitors
Company | Monthly rate |
|---|---|
| Aetna | $450 |
| Cigna | $465 |
| Ambetter | $492 |
| UnitedHealthcare | $546 |
| Blue Cross Blue Shield | $607 |
Average monthly rate for a 40-year-old with a Silver plan.
Price is important when choosing your health insurance policy. However, you should also look at the other perks that each health insurance provider offers. For example, UnitedHealthcare gives policyholders access to wellness programs, which we evaluate in more depth in this review.
UnitedHealthcare plans are cheaper if you buy a lower-level plan. The main differences between these plans are typically the monthly premium, deductible and out-of-pocket maximum (OOPM). However, depending on what state you live in, the specific details of the policy may differ, such as copays and coinsurance amounts.
Plan tier | Average UHC monthly premium |
|---|---|
| Bronze | $423 |
| Silver | $546 |
| Gold | $606 |
UHC Medicare
Medicare policies are offered by UnitedHealthcare through AARP. This means that although UHC is offering the policy, the coverage comes from AARP. Some Medicare policies you can purchase include:
Although these are all policies offered by UHC, they may not all be available in your state since individual state regulations vary.
Short-term health insurance
UnitedHealthcare short-term health insurance policies are cheaper than individual health insurance but provide the bare minimum in benefits. Unlike individual plans, a short-term policy can be purchased outside of open enrollment, which means you can buy it any time of the year.
UnitedHealthcare's short-term health insurance comes from Golden Rule Insurance Co. The plan options vary by state, but you'll be able to choose between different deductibles, copays and maximum benefit amounts.
Business health insurance
Small-business health insurance and employer plans are offered by UnitedHealthcare for groups that have anywhere from two to over 5,000 employees. These are usually comprehensive plans, meaning that medical, dental, disability and life could all be provided to employees of a company. However, UnitedHealthcare also lets business owners pick and choose which policies they might want to offer employees.
For example, a small-business owner could choose to offer a health and dental plan through UHC but get their disability policy through a different provider.
Member resources and benefits
UnitedHealthcare stands out for its extra benefits and unique rewards, which help its customers to be healthy.
UHC $0 drugs
To help make sure people can get the medications they need, UnitedHealthcare got rid of the cost for several lifesaving drugs, including insulin. Other drugs with a $0 cost include:
- Epinephrine, for severe allergic reactions
- Glucagon, for low blood sugar
- Naloxone, for opioid overdoses
- Albuterol, for severe asthma attacks
UHC programs
UHC Healthy First Steps is a program that helps pregnant women and new mothers choose a doctor, keep up with appointments and find community support.
UnitedHealthcare also has two fitness programs, Motion and Rally. Motion helps you meet daily fitness goals and rewards you with up to $1,095 per year. Rally lets you take a survey to assess your health metrics, then helps you choose wellness goals. You'll get rewarded as you meet your goals.
UHC mobile app
The UnitedHealthcare app helps you keep track of your health and health insurance. Some of the features offered on this smartphone app include:
- Find in-network care options in your area
- Talk to a doctor by video
- See doctor reviews and ratings
- View your health plan ID card
- Manage prescriptions
- View claims and account balances
- View copays, annual deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses
- Estimate procedure costs
Customer reviews and complaints
Customer reviews for UnitedHealthcare are slightly better than average when compared with other major health insurance companies.
Many members praise the company’s tech support and customer service as being easy to work with and providing enough information when they have questions. UHC gets good reviews for its app, and most users say it is helpful and easy to navigate. However, some users report problems with glitches and crashes.
UnitedHealthcare has fewer complaints than expected for a company its size, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). Receiving fewer complaints than average indicates that customers are generally happy with UnitedHealthcare's service.
UHC's customer reviews from Better Business Bureau (BBB) are not good. UHC isn't accredited, so it doesn't have a BBB score. But customers still report problems to BBB. Common complaints include denied claims and slow response times.
Finally, UnitedHealthcare received an AM Best rating of A+ (Superior). Financial health ratings can help you decide if a company is stable enough to pay your medical bills. An A+ rating means that UHC is strong financially and has historically been able to pay claims. AM Best rates the company's outlook as stable, which means UnitedHealthcare is likely to stay financially strong.
Methodology
Health insurance rates are based on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for plans sold on HealthCare.gov, the federal health insurance marketplace. States that use their own health insurance marketplace were excluded from the data. Rates are averages based on a 40-year-old policyholder with a Silver-level plan, unless otherwise noted.
Other sources include AM Best, the App Store, Better Business Bureau, Google Play, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and UnitedHealthcare.