Largest US insurer sets up office in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - America’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealth Group Inc., has set up a support office in the country to provide critical services to their clients, Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo said yesterday.

“We welcome UnitedHealth decision to transfer to Manila various labor-intensive, information technology-enabled business support functions,” he said.

“This is yet another strong vote of confidence in our country, coming no less from a major American corporation,” he said.

Romulo, a supporter of the business process outsourcing industry, said UnitedHealth, ranked No. 22 in the Fortune 500 largest US corporations by gross revenue, has begun hiring its local staff, including Filipino nurses with hospital experience, BPO exposure, and who have active US licenses.

The nurses are being signed up to perform Philippine-based jobs as “nurse associates, clinical quality analysts and clinical managers,” he added.

UnitedHealth is also recruiting medical billing coordinators, medical coding specialists, healthcare experts, and customer service associates with BPO experience in a financial account or in handling human resource processes.

Romulo has predicted that a new US law enabling more Americans to obtain health insurance, known as Obamacare, would boost the BPO sector in the Philippines.

Obamacare refers to the US Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which will allow an additional 30 million Americans to get hold of health insurance through new subsidies and tax credits to employers and individuals, among other mechanisms. It also mandates reforms to simplify and cut down the cost of health care in America.

Minnesota-based UnitedHealth serves more than 75 million people worldwide, mostly in America, through a network of 754,000 physicians and other health care professionals, and 5,400 hospitals.

The country’s BPO sector is projected to generate $27 billion in revenues and directly employ 1.3 million Filipinos by 2016.

This year, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines sees the industry generating $13 billion. It employs on 764,000 workers.