UnitedHealthcare and San Antonio USO Support Troops This Holiday Season at MGMA12 Conference

• Conference attendees can create holiday cards and snowflakes of appreciation for service members who cannot celebrate the holidays at home
• Medical Group Management Association’s 2012 Annual Conference Oct. 21-24 at the San Antonio Convention Center

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UnitedHealthcare, in partnership with the San Antonio USO, is giving MGMA12 Annual Conference attendees the opportunity to send holiday cheer to service members deployed overseas who cannot celebrate the holidays at home this year.

“We appreciate UnitedHealthcare’s initiative to harness the power of our 5,000 attendees to show service members our appreciation”

Attendees can create a holiday card or snowflake of appreciation for service members by stopping at the UnitedHealthcare booth No. 1224 during the conference. UnitedHealthcare and the San Antonio USO plan to send 1,500 handcrafted cards to military service members currently deployed in Southwest Asia.

“UnitedHealthcare is honored to help bring a little holiday spirit to service members who must be away from their homes and families this holiday season,” said Lori McDougal, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans. “These cards and snowflakes are a small symbol of our appreciation for all they do.”

UnitedHealthcare Military & Veterans will be the managed care support contractor for 2.9 million service members, retirees and their families in the TRICARE West region beginning in April 2013.

“Throughout our country’s history, Americans have felt profound appreciation and gratitude for the dedication and sacrifice of our troops and their families,” said Shari Jenson, Director of USO San Antonio. “The USO provides a tangible way for all of us to say thank you, as it has for over 70 years. Troops have told us that the USO provides them with things that help them feel normal in a less than normal environment. It is our hope that the cards and snowflakes created at the UnitedHealthcare booth will bring our troops some comfort in a less than comfortable environment.”

“We appreciate UnitedHealthcare’s initiative to harness the power of our 5,000 attendees to show service members our appreciation,” said MGMA-ACMPE President and CEO Susan Turney, M.D., MS FACP, FACMPE. “We urge all members spending time in the exhibit hall to lend their sentiments and artistic talents to this effort.”

The MGMA 2012 Annual Conference provides educational programs for health care professionals engaged in managing the business of medicine. The programs are designed to inform administrators, executives, managers, physicians, nurses, health administration students and faculty, and other business professionals involved in managing medical group practices and health care systems of all sizes.

About USO
The USO (United Service Organizations) lifts the spirits of America’s troops and their families millions of times each year at hundreds of places worldwide. We provide a touch of home through centers at airports and military bases in the U.S. and abroad, top quality entertainment and innovative programs and services. We also provide critical support to those who need us most, including forward-deployed troops, military families, wounded warriors and their families and the families of the fallen.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 650,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals nationwide. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 38 million people and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.