UnitedHealthcare Eye Care Program Helps Support Children’s Eye Health by Reducing Exposure to Blue Light Amid COVID-19
October 06 2020 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
- To help with distance learning, school districts across the
country to receive a combined $100,000 to help meet the needs of
their students, including for technology such as laptops with
blue-light filtering properties
- Eligible children with select UnitedHealthcare Vision plans
have coverage – at no additional cost – for eyewear with premium
anti-reflective coating to help reduce exposure to blue
light*
- UnitedHealthcare and Eyesafe to host Blue Light Summit 2020
on Oct. 15 and release the Screen Time 2020 Report; separate
webinar will provide information to help reduce digital eye strain
for students, parents, teachers and school administrators on Oct.
13
UnitedHealthcare has launched a vision program that will help
children across the country reduce their exposure to blue light and
support their overall eye health, addressing the unique eye-health
challenges young people may face amid COVID-19.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201006005244/en/
The new enhancements for the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Eye
Care Program are designed to help reduce the prevalence of digital
eye strain among young people, a growing concern given people spend
an average of 13 hours per day on digital devices.1 Key details
include:
- Donations totaling $100,000 to school districts to help meet
the needs of their students, including for technology such as
laptops with blue-light filtering properties that may help
reduce the risk of digital eye strain amid the growing use of
distance learning due to COVID-19. The blue-light filtering
technology may help provide protection from potentially harmful
blue light, which is especially important given children’s
still-developing eyes.2 The following school districts will each
receive $20,000 donations to help meet the educational needs of
their students: Dallas Independent School District (TX), DeSoto
Parish School Board (LA), Green Bay Area Public Schools (WI), and
Seminole County Public Schools (FL).
- Enhanced eye care benefit at no additional member cost
sharing for standard and premium anti-reflective coating on
eyewear for dependents under age 19 enrolled in eligible
employer-sponsored plans, helping prevent potentially harmful
reflective glare and reduce the risk of digital eye strain. The
enhanced benefit is available to new UnitedHealthcare Vision
customers with 100 to 1,000 eligible plan participants.* The
enhanced benefit builds on an existing program for UnitedHealthcare
Vision plan participants that provides members up to age 13 a
second covered eye exam and an additional pair of glasses if their
vision prescription changes 0.5 diopter or greater; a comparable
benefit design is available to UnitedHealthcare Vision plan
participants who are pregnant or breastfeeding**.
- UnitedHealthcare and Eyesafe will host the Blue Light Summit
2020 on Oct. 15, bringing together world leaders from consumer
electronics and health care to discuss the connection between blue
light, screen time and eye health. For parents, teachers, school
administrators, employers and all consumers, a separate webinar is
scheduled for Oct. 13 to share information about ways to help
reduce blue light exposure amid the increased prevalence of
distance learning due to COVID-19. People can click here to
register for the Blue Light Summit 2020 and click here for details
about the educational webinar.
In advance of the Blue Light Summit 2020, Eyesafe, a leader in
screen time and blue light solutions, and UnitedHealthcare have
issued the “Screen Time 2020 Report”, which includes survey results
from employers and vision care providers related to screen time and
blue light exposure. The “Screen Time 2020 Report” revealed that
94% of eye care providers surveyed are “very concerned” to
“somewhat concerned” about the impact of digital device screen time
on their patients’ eyes; among employers, more than 77% of
respondents are “somewhat” to “very concerned” about the impact of
digital device screen time on their employees’ eyes and
health.3
“Digital eye strain due in part to increased screen time is
becoming a more significant issue for many Americans, including
professionals working remotely and students engaged in distance
learning,” said John Ryan, general manager, UnitedHealthcare
Vision. “We are taking a comprehensive approach to help our more
than 20 million vision members and Americans nationwide to help
reduce their exposure to blue light, enhancing our whole-person
approach to health benefits and vision care.”
Digital eye strain, which is caused by prolonged use of
computers, smartphones or tablets, may cause symptoms such as sore,
tired, watery or dry eyes, headache, or sore neck, shoulder or
back. More than 50% of computer users may experience digital eye
strain.4
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 1.3 million physicians and care professionals, and 6,500
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 www.uhc.com or follow @UHC
on Twitter.
1 Eyesafe, 2020,
https://eyesafe.com/covid-19-screen-time-spike-to-over-13-hours-per-day
2 The American Optometric Association, 2020,
https://www.aoa.org/Documents/OptometryCares/Blue%20Light%20Impact%20in%20Children.pdf
3 Screen Time 2020 Report[remove italics and add quote marks?]
survey of 157 eye care professionals and 500 employers, July 2020 4
BMJ Open Ophthalmology, 2018,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6020759/ *Enhanced
benefit design available to new UnitedHealthcare vision customers
with between 100 and 1,000 eligible plan participants and case
effective dates between Oct. 1, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2021. **Second
covered eye exam and glasses is per plan or calendar year depending
on the policy and requires applicable copays; second pair does not
include contact lenses.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201006005244/en/
Will Shanley UnitedHealthcare (714) 204-8005
will.shanley@uhc.com
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