UnitedHealthcare to offer replacement insurance

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- UnitedHealthcare will provide more affordable replacement policies to thousands of Missourians after deciding to drop individual HMO coverage, state officials said. In December, the Minnetonka, Minn.-based health maintenance organization notified about 10,000 Missouri residents, 400 Kansas residents, and 330 Illinois residents that they would no longer be covered starting in June. The decision affected individual HMO coverage; people who are covered by group health plans and Medicare were not affected. Randy McConnell, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Insurance, had said the high cost of replacement policies would force as many as 3,000 Missouri policyholders to enroll in the state's high-risk health insurance pool, a move that would cost Missouri taxpayers as much as $10 million.

This week, however, UnitedHealthcare said its Golden Rule Insurance Co. division would offer its lowest rates to all affected Missouri policyholders without denials, benefit exclusions or surcharges based on existing medical conditions.

Kansas Insurance Department spokesman Scott Holeman and Mark Lindsay, a UnitedHealthcare spokesman, said the two sides were discussing issues regarding changes in coverage.