UnitedHealthcare’s Surest Offers a New Approach to Health Insurance

Surest™, formerly Bind, offers a new approach to health benefits that eliminates deductibles and offers access to clear, upfront pricing information before people access care

Surest members show improved satisfaction; plans offer up to 15% lower health care costs for employers and reduced member out-of-pocket expenses by up to 44%¹

MINNETONKA, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UnitedHealthcare’s Surest offers a new approach to health benefits that removes deductibles and provides clear upfront pricing information to people in advance of treatment. Surest, introduced initially in 2016 as Bind, has the fastest growth rate among UnitedHealthcare’s employer-sponsored plans.

UnitedHealthcare offers Surest to employers nationwide with self-funded health plans. Surest plans are also offered to UnitedHealthcare fully insured customers with 51 or more employees in 11 states (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia), with intent to add up to five additional states by the end of 2022.

Over 150 employers are using a Surest plan today, including a growing number that are adding Surest as an option for the 2023 enrollment season this fall.

“People and employers are looking for a simpler and more sustainable health care plan,” said Alison Richards, chief executive officer, Surest. “Our new brand name, Surest, helps convey the idea of clarity, confidence and control our members have with their plan.”

Key features of Surest plans include:

No deductibles or coinsurance: Offering clear and transparent health care quality and cost data presented in the Surest app, Surest plans help remove financial barriers to care and make it easier for members to understand both their coverage and cost before receiving care or making an appointment. Surest members more frequently accessed high-value and more convenient care, including a 10X increase in virtual visit use², and were less likely to use low-value care (6% fewer emergency department visits¹). More than half the time, Surest members selected high-quality health care providers with the lowest price for procedures such as hip replacement or reflux surgery.

Upfront prices: Surest plans enable members to review single, all-in prices for more than 490 services before receiving care. Based on data-driven results, members may be able to pay less out of pocket and receive more effective treatments from quality care providers, as determined by national standardized measures. Access to clear, upfront prices can help people avoid multiple or surprise bills.

Designed for improved satisfaction and more affordable premiums: Among people enrolled in a Surest plan, the Net Promoter Score® – a key measure of consumer satisfaction – was significantly higher than industry benchmarks.¹ For employers that introduced Surest plans, costs were up to 15% less per member per month compared to high-deductible health plans, while out-of-pocket costs for members were 44% less.¹

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.5 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,700 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at uhc.com or follow @UHC on Twitter.

^1 Surest self-funded 2021 book of business; Milliman 2021 commercial benchmarks and MARA risk adjustment methodology. Risk adjusted for demographics, geography, and disease burden.

^2 Surest book of business vs. Doctor on Demand book of business, 2021