UnitedHealth Workers Get Critical on Care

Some rank-and-file UnitedHealth Group (UNH Quote) employees feel a whole lot less pampered than their billionaire CEO.

Take a look at their health care benefits, of all things. UnitedHealth ranks as the most diversified health insurer in the country, a company that takes great pride in offering other companies a wide range of products -- including some of the richest benefits available in the marketplace today. Yet the company's 55,000 employees have just three choices when it comes to their own health care coverage. And all of those are so-called "consumer-driven" health plans.

These plans, known as CDHPs, feature higher deductibles -- and the potential for much greater out-of-pocket expenses -- than the traditional coverage that UnitedHealth continues to sell to others. The plans have grown increasingly popular among employers hoping to shift more health care costs onto their employees and previously uninsured individuals who simply cannot afford anything else. ...