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UHC has launched an anti-behemoth sub-brand focused on individual and small group coverage – Harken Health – with unlimited primary care. From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:
For the first time, individual shoppers are buying coverage from Harken Health, a company with about 100 employees based at an office on the UnitedHealthcare corporate campus in Minnetonka.
Harken is being run as an independent entity, executives said, with a distinct approach to selling coverage. Subscribers receive unlimited access to primary care, without copays, if they visit a health center owned by Harken Health…
Harken Health is on the federal government’s HealthCare.gov exchange for Atlanta and Chicago, where UnitedHealthcare plans are offered to the same consumers.
Harken sells a “bronze” quality plan with a $6,850 deductible to a 40-year-old in Chicago for $242 per month. UnitedHealthcare offers slightly lower deductibles and monthly costs of $255 and $269.
The strategy helps highlight unique aspects of Harken Health coverage outside the UnitedHealthcare brand, said Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst with Mizuho Securities USA. Take a tour of the Harken Health website, she pointed out, and the feel is decidedly “anti-corporate.”
Rather than charge a premium, Harken Health says it collects a “membership fee.” The company’s clinics are called “health centers.” Beyond not charging copays at the centers, there’s also no “coinsurance” — a form of cost-sharing that Vanderheyden says just adds complexity.
By simplifying payment, the centers don’t have to bother with all the paperwork and hassle to get paid by insurers, Vanderheyden said.
The article goes on to say Harken Health is eyeing “meaningful expansion” beyond Chicago and Atlanta this year. It is also being compared to Oscar and startup Zoom+ out of Portland. Thoughts on this strategy?
UnitedHealthcare launches a smaller, 'very, very different' insurer - StarTribune.com
For the first time, individual shoppers are buying coverage from Harken Health, a company with about 100 employees based at an office on the UnitedHealthcare corporate campus in Minnetonka.
Harken is being run as an independent entity, executives said, with a distinct approach to selling coverage. Subscribers receive unlimited access to primary care, without copays, if they visit a health center owned by Harken Health…
Harken Health is on the federal government’s HealthCare.gov exchange for Atlanta and Chicago, where UnitedHealthcare plans are offered to the same consumers.
Harken sells a “bronze” quality plan with a $6,850 deductible to a 40-year-old in Chicago for $242 per month. UnitedHealthcare offers slightly lower deductibles and monthly costs of $255 and $269.
The strategy helps highlight unique aspects of Harken Health coverage outside the UnitedHealthcare brand, said Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst with Mizuho Securities USA. Take a tour of the Harken Health website, she pointed out, and the feel is decidedly “anti-corporate.”
Rather than charge a premium, Harken Health says it collects a “membership fee.” The company’s clinics are called “health centers.” Beyond not charging copays at the centers, there’s also no “coinsurance” — a form of cost-sharing that Vanderheyden says just adds complexity.
By simplifying payment, the centers don’t have to bother with all the paperwork and hassle to get paid by insurers, Vanderheyden said.
The article goes on to say Harken Health is eyeing “meaningful expansion” beyond Chicago and Atlanta this year. It is also being compared to Oscar and startup Zoom+ out of Portland. Thoughts on this strategy?
UnitedHealthcare launches a smaller, 'very, very different' insurer - StarTribune.com