UnitedHealth in "constructive" talks: CEO

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group is in "constructive" talks with lawmakers about how to best care for underserved communities efficiently, its chief executive, Stephen Hemsley, said on Wednesday.

Hemsley's comments came at an event held by the largest U.S. health insurer by market value to unveil a prototype mobile clinic where patients can undergo tests and consult remotely with specialists via video conferencing.

Asked in an interview about conversations between his company and lawmakers crafting health care reforms, the CEO said: "Actually, we've been in dialogue for some time, very much in a constructive way about broadening access ... and about modernizing care."

Hemsley said his company had made "very real practical" suggestions of ways to save money.

"I think there's opportunities for optimizing the use of resources, many many examples of those have been offered by our company," he said. "We've offered these things very constructively and they've been received in that way."

UnitedHealth said in a report issued in May that the U.S. government could save $540 billion in healthcare costs in the next decade through steps such as using nurse practitioners to manage illnesses and prevent hospitalizations as well as linking payments to proven therapies.

UnitedHealth, working with Cisco Systems, designed the Internet-age mobile medical clinic as a way to efficiently provide care to the needy and people in rural areas.

THE SEARCH FOR $1 TRILLION

As Congress and the White House work on legislation to overhaul the U.S. health industry, health insurers are under pressure to come up with savings to follow commitments made by pharmaceutical industry for savings of $80 billion and the hospital sector for cuts of $155 billion over a decade.

The discussions focus on subsidies for Medicare beneficiaries who get their coverage through private Medicare Advantage programs.

Extending coverage to many of the 46 million Americans without insurance -- one of President Barack Obama's major goals -- could cost about $1 trillion over a decade and policymakers are hunting for savings.

The health care overhaul cleared its first hurdle on Wednesday as the Senate's health committee approved its version of the legislation. It is to be combined with a bill yet to be written in the Senate Finance Committee.

The Democrat-controlled health panel's bill, approved on a 13-10 party-line vote, seeks to expand coverage to many of the 46 million uninsured Americans, adds a government-run healthcare program, requires most Americans to obtain health insurance, and mandates most employers to provide it to their workers.

Three House of Representatives committees are to start work this week on similar legislation.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)