UnitedHealthcare Enhances Eye Care Program by Helping Reduce People’s Exposure to Blue Light

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) company, is investing in new ways to help children and adults across the country reduce their exposure to blue light and support their overall eye health, amid ongoing use of screens during COVID-19 and the greater reliance on remote school and work.

Through multiple initiatives, UnitedHealthcare is working to help limit excessive exposure to blue light, which could help reduce the prevalence of digital eye strain among children and adults, a growing concern given people spend an average of 13 hours per day on digital devices.¹ Key efforts include:

• A discount of up to 20% on Dell XPS laptops with embedded blue-light-blocking properties from Eyesafe®. UnitedHealthcare Vision members are also eligible for a comparable discount on Eyesafe Blue Light Screen Filters to retrofit existing smartphones, tablets, laptops and computer monitors. Available to more than 23 million UnitedHealthcare Vision members nationwide, both discount programs are designed to help reduce exposure to high-energy blue light for people purchasing new laptops or retrofitting existing digital devices. Eligible UnitedHealthcare members will soon be notified about the Dell XPS discount via email or will be able to access more information by logging into myuhcvision.com. To obtain the screen filter discount, UnitedHealthcare Vision members can go to eyesafe.com/filters and use the provided promo code at checkout.
  
  
• Donations of $20,000 per school district to help meet the technology needs of their students, plus screen protectors to help reduce students’ exposure to blue light for students. The following school districts will each receive a $20,000 donation to help meet the educational needs of their students: Cleveland Metro School District (OH), Roanoke City Public Schools (VA), Fort Bend Independent School District (TX), Minneapolis Public Schools (MN), and The School District of Palm Beach County (FL). The school districts will each be eligible to also receive a donation of 1,000 screen filters from Eyesafe to retrofit existing digital devices to help reduce exposure to blue light, which is especially important given children’s still-developing eyes.²

“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 using laptops or tablets as part of course curriculum,” said John Ryan, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Vision. “We are taking a comprehensive approach to help our more than 23 million vision members and people across the country reduce their exposure to blue light, enhancing our whole-person approach to health benefits and vision care.”

"XPS is all about groundbreaking innovations,” said Donnie Oliphant, senior director of XPS Product Management, Dell Technologies. “We chartered a path in 2019 to make all XPS notebooks integrated with Eyesafe technology, and through this new collaboration we’re able to put our most award-winning personal computer in the hands of UnitedHealthcare Vision members to help reduce blue light exposure.”

For more information about blue light and digital eye strain, click here for a customized educational guide for employers and employees, and click here for a guide for parents and educators.

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, 2022, https://www.aoa.org/news/clinical-eye-care/health-and-wellness/blue-light-hype-or-much-ado-about-nothing?sso=y