WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - U.S. health secretary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met with major health insurers on Monday,

extracting pledges that they will take additional measures to

simplify their requirements for prior approval on medicines and

medical services.

Insurers including UnitedHealth Group's ( UNH )

UnitedHealthcare, CVS Health's ( CVS ) Aetna, Cigna Group ( CI )

, Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and

Kaiser Permanente met with Kennedy and Centers for Medicare and

Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, the Department of

Health and Human Services said in a statement.

The health insurers pledged six key reforms aimed at cutting

red tape, accelerating care decisions, and enhancing

transparency for patients and providers, HHS said in the

statement.

Participation in the pledge is voluntary, Oz said in a news

conference. Three-quarters of U.S. patients are covered by

participants in the pledge, he said, adding that CMS will

publish the full list of participating plans later this summer.

"There shouldn't be paper, there shouldn't be faxes, there

shouldn't be letters being sent. They should all be done

digitally and automatically, and 90-day continuity should exist

for authorizations when patients switch insurers, so you never

fall through the cracks again," Oz said.

Out of the about 6,000 procedures that are subject each year

to prior authorization, only about 2,000-3,000 should require

the process, Oz said.

"If the insurance industry cannot address the needs of

pre-authorization by themselves, there are government

opportunities to get involved," he said.

The pledge includes health insurers working to develop

standardized data and submission requirements for electronic

prior authorization by January 1, 2027.

The companies also will work on reducing the scope of claims

that require prior authorization by January 1, 2026, and ensure

the authorizations are valid for a 90-day period if the patient

changes insurance companies during the course of treatment.

The pledge was announced earlier on Monday by insurance

industry trade group AHIP, which also attended the meeting.

The killing of the head of UnitedHealth's ( UNH ) insurance unit

last year ignited significant social media backlash from

Americans struggling to receive and pay for medical care.

"There's violence in the streets over these issues. This

is not something that is a passively accepted reality anymore.

Americans are upset about it," Oz said.