Alison Richards is the CEO of Surest, a UnitedHealthcare company (formerly Bind) that builds a health plan with no deductibles and upfront prices people can see before they book care. A UnitedHealthcare veteran since 2012, she has turned the company's most contrarian benefits idea - let members shop for care the way they shop for everything else - into its fastest-growing employer plan.
Surest is a UnitedHealthcare employer-sponsored health plan that strips out deductibles and coinsurance and instead shows members clear, upfront prices for care before they book it. Founded in 2016 as Bind in Minneapolis, the plan lets people compare providers and treatment options by cost and quality through an app, then pay a single known copay. Rebranded from Bind to Surest in 2022 after UnitedHealthcare took majority ownership, it has grown into the fastest-growing plan in UnitedHealthcare's book, serving close to one million members across employers from family businesses to the Fortune 100.