UnitedHealthcare Opens New Comprehensive Health Benefits Store in New York's Chinatown

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UnitedHealthcare today opened its newest health benefits store at 168 Centre St. in Chinatown, New York, continuing the company’s nearly 20-year commitment to serving local residents with comprehensive and personalized customer service. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held today with elected officials, community leaders and UnitedHealthcare executives.

“We are honored to join with local elected officials, community leaders and residents to open our new store to the community.”

The new UnitedHealthcare Asian Plaza in Chinatown replaces the company’s first-ever retail-like customer support center that opened in 1994. This latest storefront is the 23^rd to open in the United States and was modeled after the successful design used at the company’s Queens store. On average, more than 3,000 people a month have visited the Queens store since it opened in 2011.

With a focus on serving the Asian-American community, the new UnitedHealthcare Asian Plaza in Chinatown will provide residents with information and customer service on all UnitedHealthcare benefits plans, including Medicare, Medicaid, small business and individual, while also offering health and wellness services, and free public health education programs.

“UnitedHealthcare is opening this newest storefront in Chinatown in order to provide individuals and businesses with simple, personalized information about both their benefits coverage and health and well-being,” said Chris Law, national vice president, UnitedHealthcare’s Asian Initiatives. “We are honored to join with local elected officials, community leaders and residents to open our new store to the community.”

At the new 11,000-square-foot consumer-support center in Chinatown, visitors can sit down with customer service professionals and discuss their health benefits in their native language, ask questions about claims or billing issues, and seek assistance on other health insurance-related matters.

Specially trained staff are also available to help local residents, including those who are not UnitedHealthcare customers, identify and apply for more than 15 types of state and federal social service programs, including the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) program, Medicare Savings Program (MSP), the New York State Food Stamps program, and heat and electric subsidies.

Combining high touch with hi-tech, computers and iPads are available for visitors to access and print health-related information, and a “health screening kiosk” measures blood pressure, pulse and body mass index (BMI) – all important indicators that help people better understand their health status. UnitedHealthcare also will host an ongoing series of education seminars that are free to the public. Topics will include nutrition and exercise, disease management and financial planning.

“Health care is a local resource, and as consumers are increasingly being asked to play a greater role in their personal health, many people may need extra support. Neighborhood centers like the UnitedHealthcare Asian Plaza in Chinatown will become more critical to ensure consumers have easier access to local resources so they can learn more about their health and the options available to them,” said Tom Paul, chief consumer officer, UnitedHealthcare. “We look forward to serving New York residents and expanding this model to serve additional communities around the country.”

UnitedHealthcare serves more than 3.8 million New York residents with a care provider network of 230 hospitals and more than 46,000 physicians and other health care professionals statewide, including more than 1,000 Asian-American physicians who provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care and support to Asian-American plan participants in New York City.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with 780,000 physicians and other health care professionals and 5,900 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 40 million people in health benefits and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

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