UnitedHealthcare Reduces Most Prior Approvals For Pediatric Patients

UnitedHealth makes major change for kids’ healthcare after backlash over delays

UnitedHealth's insurance arm will eliminate prior-authorization requirements for ~67% of pediatric healthcare services, covering diagnostics, routine surgery, and specialty care including cardiology and neurology. For health tech and enterprise benefits leaders, this signals accelerating regulatory and reputational pressure on U.S. insurers to reduce administrative friction — with 70%+ of prior authorizations moving to standardized submission by year-end.