Health Insurance Daily

Free Online Tool Helps Predict Medical Expenses

Benefit managers may wish to inform their employees about a new online tool that can help workers budget correctly for their family’s health care expenses.

The Family Health Budget was unveiled today by the consumer-driven health plan Humana and Consumer Action, a consumer advocacy group. It is available to everyone, whether one is a Humana customer or not.

Upon entering information such as their age, gender, number of prescriptions and number of doctor visits, consumers receive a calculation of their total annual health care spending and personalized recommendations on how to save money. With open enrollment season approaching, the budgeting tool can help workers select an appropriate health plan, decide whether to enroll in an FSA, or determine how much money to place in an FSA.

Humana CEO Michael McCallister says people “need to budget for health care expenses just like they would for any other necessity. There are many people who don’t know where they stand” on annual medical spending.

The budgeting tool dovetails with a driving principle of consumer-driven health care-- the notion that patients will spend more wisely on care if they have the right information.

posted by Mike @ 9:25 AM