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New Open Access Plans From PacifiCare Offer Las Vegas-Area Businesses Greater Flexibility and Choice

Posted on: Thursday, 4 May 2006, 12:03 CDT

LAS VEGAS, May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Committed to offering more affordable and flexible health care options in the face of rising health care costs, PacifiCare, a UnitedHealthcare Company, launched its Open Access Plans for businesses in Las Vegas.

The new Open Access Plans offer a range of health plan options, including several HMO and Point-Of-Service (POS) plan designs to choose from while providing greater flexibility and choice for Las Vegas-area businesses and their employees. Competitively priced, the Open Access Plans are designed to give members PPO-style flexibility while still providing them with the predictable out-of-pocket costs of an HMO plan.

For example, Open Access HMO plan members are not required to select a primary care physician. In addition, members may visit any in-network specialist without a referral. The POS Open Access plan allows similar access, but members have the ability to access out-of-network care. Visits to physicians within PacifiCare's network, which includes more than 1,300 physicians and specialists and 13 hospitals in the Las Vegas area, further reduce member out-of-pocket costs.

"We listened to our members and our physician partners who told us that easier access to specialists and fewer administrative steps are important factors in simplifying their health care benefits," said James Frey, chief executive officer of UnitedHealthcare's Pacific Region. "With PacifiCare's new Open Access Plans, we are delivering affordable health care options that provide greater flexibility and choice for Las Vegas-area businesses and their employees."

PacifiCare's Open Access Plans can be purchased with additional benefits and programs including behavioral health care, dental and vision coverage and a tiered pharmacy benefit. Members may enroll in any of PacifiCare's award-winning disease management programs, including those for diabetes and congestive heart failure, as well as HealthCredits(R), an innovative suite of services that provides consumers with tools to make better health care decisions and a rewards system for those who take active steps to improve their health.

The PacifiCare Open Access HMO and POS Plans are included in the Small Business Choice Series that is available to small businesses in Nevada with 10 to 50 actively enrolled employees. The Choice Series plans allow small businesses to offer up to four eligible PacifiCare benefit plans to their employees. With the addition of Open Access, PacifiCare now offers a broader and more flexible small-business health care coverage program in the Las Vegas market.

According to the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, there were approximately 177,000 small businesses in Nevada in 2004, the most recent data available. Of the nearly 51,000 firms with employees, an estimated 95 percent, or approximately 49,000, were small firms.

To learn more about Open Access and the new Small Business Choice Series, call (800) 826-4347 or visit http://www.pacificare.com/.

PacifiCare offers individuals and employers a variety of consumer-driven health care and life insurance products. Specialty operations include behavioral health, dental and vision, and complete pharmacy and medical management through its wholly owned subsidiary, Prescription Solutions. PacifiCare, a UnitedHealthcare Company, serves nearly 55,000 commercial health plan members in Nevada. More information on PacifiCare is available at http://www.pacificare.com/.

PacifiCare

CONTACT: Cheryl Randolph, Media Relations of PacifiCare, +1-714-226-3441,cheryl.randolph@phs.com

Web site: http://www.pacificare.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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