Thursday, January 16, 2025

UnitedAg's Inaugural Town Hall: A Commitment to Innovation, Well-Being, and Member Support

We recently hosted our inaugural Town Hall meeting, underscoring UnitedAg’s unwavering dedication to prioritizing our members’ health, well-being, and evolving needs. The webinar highlighted our commitment to transparency and collaboration, providing a platform to address key challenges impacting our community, including recent natural disasters in Southern California.

During the webinar, we unveiled several new initiatives designed to enhance the services we offer and deepen member engagement. These efforts reflect our proactive approach to supporting the agricultural community and ensuring resilience in the face of adversity.

Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to making this event a success. Together, we will continue to build a stronger, healthier future for our members and the agricultural industry.

Kirti Mutatkar
President & CEO

Town Hall Highlights

Emergency Support for Members

The Town Hall shed light on UnitedAg’s readiness to support members during natural disasters and crises.

  • Members impacted by Southern California disasters can receive immediate access to mental health resources and flexible pharmacy benefits, ensuring continuity of care during challenging times. Visit our Wildfire Resources webpage for detailed information and additional support.
  • Programs like early prescription refills and $0 copays for generic medications through Costco pharmacies have proven instrumental in alleviating stress during emergencies.

A Holistic Approach to Health

The Town Hall highlighted a comprehensive healthcare strategy, emphasizing the importance of integrating mental health into the overall wellness strategy. This approach ensures members receive well-rounded care across medical, dental, and vision services.

  • Partnership with Spring Health: Recently, UnitedAg expanded its mental health benefits through this collaboration, offering vital services such as crisis assistance, support for substance abuse, and tobacco cessation programs. These resources reflect UnitedAg’s commitment to addressing the diverse and complex needs of our members. Learn more.

Enhancing Member Experience

This year, UnitedAg will be introducing several initiatives aimed at simplifying member interactions and reducing stress during critical periods.

  • Portal and Mobile App Launch:

    • The new benefit administration portal provides employers, members, and service representatives with streamlined access to benefits.

    • The "UnitedAg Benefits Connect" mobile app offers:

      • Instant access to ID cards and explanations of benefits (EOBs).

      • The ability to email ID cards directly to providers.

    • Coming late Spring early Summer, a Digital Wallet integration which enables ID cards to be saved in Apple or Google Wallets for seamless access, with automatic updates reflecting changes (e.g., pharmacy updates).

  • Registration Incentives:

    • To help increase registration and adoption of the new tools, UnitedAg launched a contest that encourages app downloads with milestone rewards such as gift cards and larger prizes, aiming to boost user adoption and engagement with these new digital tools. The contest runs January 1st through March 31st. Learn more.

  • Addressing Year-End and ID Card Anxiety:

    • With the new health portal and app tools, members will have real-time updates that ensures digital cards are available immediately upon processing, reducing stress during critical renewal periods (December-January).

Pharmacy Benefits Tailored for Members

Pharmacy benefits have been and will continue to be a key focus for the organization highlighting their member-first approach to medication access. Partnership with Costco Health Solutions offers $0 copays for generic prescriptions and proactive measures like early refills during emergencies which provide significant cost savings for members.

Costco Health Solutions will be exiting the Pharmacy Benefits Management (PBM) market in 2026. In response to this change, UnitedAg is planning a smooth transition to a new PBM that aligns with their member-centric approach, ensuring minimal disruption during the implementation process. The new PBM will be announced this summer.

UnitedAg Member Advocacy and Wellness Centers

UnitedAg's commitment to personalized care is reflected in its Member Advocacy Services and UnitedAg Wellness Centers. Led by Sonia Roldan, Senior Member Services Manager, the advocacy team efficiently resolves complex member issues, often during the first interaction, ensuring compassionate and effective support.

With six wellness center locations across California and the introduction of virtual visits in 2024, UnitedAg provides convenient, zero-wait-time services. These virtual consultations with trusted clinicians have helped eliminate barriers to care and reduce healthcare costs for both employers and members, while enhancing the overall healthcare experience.

HSA Integration with SAIN Mexico Network

UnitedAg has successfully integrated the Health Savings Account (HSA) plans with the SAIN Mexico health provider network, providing members with an enhanced healthcare experience. This integration enables seamless tracking of payments and deductibles, ensuring transparency and accuracy for members managing their healthcare expenses. By aligning with the network’s negotiated rates, it will be much easier for members to access high-quality care in Mexico while minimizing out-of-pocket costs. This strategic alignment not only enhances convenience but also reinforces UnitedAg’s commitment to delivering innovative, member-focused healthcare solutions tailored to the unique needs of the agricultural community.

Financial Resilience and Sustainability

UnitedAg is in a strong financial position and has grown into a quarter-billion-dollar company, which directly benefits its members, employers, service representatives, and employees. For two consecutive years, UnitedAg has successfully maintained trend increases in the 6% range—6.5% for 2024 and 6.8% for 2025. This is significantly below the trends seen with other carriers in California, where rates range from 8% to as high as 15–16%.

For employers, this stability means predictable and manageable cost increases, helping them budget effectively. Service representatives can confidently share these competitive advantages with clients, strengthening relationships. Employees benefit from sustained access to affordable, high-quality healthcare services.

Looking ahead, UnitedAg anticipates continuing this trend into future years. Early indicators for 2025 renewals are promising, with strong new business sales and high retention rates reinforcing the organization's financial health. These efforts underscore UnitedAg's commitment to supporting members with innovative, cost-effective solutions for years to come.

Member Feedback and Engagement

Member-Centric Approach:
UnitedAg’s commitment to members is at the heart of everything they do. The organization actively listens to member feedback to shape innovative products and services to meet their needs. Christina Morley and Bridget Sanchez lead these efforts by encouraging members to share insights through various platforms, including health benefit forums, testing new communication delivery models and direct outreach. Members are invited to provide their input via a dedicated email, connect@unitedag.org, ensuring their voices are heard and valued.

HR Roundtables:

Led by Chana Hauben, UnitedAg’s VP of Human Resources, the HR Roundtables offer HR professionals an invaluable opportunity to reconnect through interactive and engaging sessions. These events address critical industry challenges, explore the latest legal updates, and foster meaningful peer-to-peer support. To ensure accessibility and address pressing issues such as compliance and regional challenges, virtual webinars are also available, providing timely and relevant resources to HR professionals across the agricultural community.

For more information, visit HR Network - UnitedAg.

Vision for Continuous Improvement

UnitedAg sees itself as a "lab" for healthcare innovation, consistently exploring and testing new ideas in collaboration with members, employers, and service representatives to enhance delivery models. Future goals include:

  • Launching a pilot program to increase member engagement and usage of health and wellness resources.

  • Incentivize members to utilize health and wellness centers, which often provide better care and are more cost-effective than urgent care visits.

  • Tools to help members compare costs, track deductibles, and understand potential savings.

  • Partnering with pharmacy programs and tying engagement to renewals.

Through initiatives like wellness pilot programs and digital advancements, UnitedAg aims to reduce stress and streamline processes, improving the overall experience for UnitedAg members and their families.

A Culture of Empathy and Transparency

UnitedAg’s commitment to empathy and service excellence remains central to our operations. Across our advocacy, client services, and wellness programs, our organization fosters a culture of compassion, treating every member with the care and respect they would offer to family.

We hope that the Town Hall served as a testament to our dedication to innovation, transparency, and the well-being of our community. As we continue to grow and evolve, our focus will remain steadfast: to support and empower the agricultural community while addressing the unique challenges with empathy, transparency, and innovation. Together, we will continue to drive positive change and create lasting impact for our members and the industry as a whole.

Have Questions? Email membership@unitedag.org.

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