United Health Group Strategic and Operations Plans

Developing Strategic and Operational Plans

The task to identify the strategic and operational plans for a Fortune 500 company can produce a mixture of emotions from entering into the unknown and emerging with a better sense of accomplishment. Removing the layers associated with delving into a company you didn’t know exist and parallel it with today’s Healthcare reform act can easily broaden one’s horizon.

Strategic Plan

UnitedHealth Group is ranked number seventeen on 2013’s Fortune 500 list and was selected due to its connection in the healthcare industry with two-fold interest to getting a better understanding of the political climate.

The strategic plan comes straight from the company’s website where the desire to expand access to quality health care at an affordable price is a major battle in the political realm yet a needed product for all people. UnitedHealth Group’s website (2013) boasts of having 85 million customers, operations in all 50 states in the United States, 20 other countries worldwide, and 2012 revenues of $110 billion. A corporate strategy plan of growth would be right up the alley per se of this company. Reported as UNH on the New York Stock Exchange, this company has shown increasing growth over the last five years with 2013 reporting $122 billion in sales and revenues (Money Watch,2014). This number could grow higher if the strategic plan included offering a portion of the company or creating a foundation that does not present itself as a private health insurance company.

To some this might be a risk however, the law through the affordable care act,

affectionately called Obamacare, would allow UnitedHealth the opportunity to become the

leader in truly offering affordable insurance to everyone. This company is a bona-fide

trend setter in health insurance and has the potential to lead other companies such as:

Aetna Inc., Cigna Corporation, Humana Inc., and Kaiser Permanente to new heights by

maximizing their targeted audience, increasing community involvement, and have a

willingness to truly help those who are in need. Albert Einstein said “A ship is always

safe at the shore - but that is NOT what it is built for” can best describe the direction this

company could take if letting the common good of a healthy and prosperous people to overtake a

greed for profit.