Online Tool Helps Consumers How much do consumers know about budgeting for their health care costs? Not nearly enough, according to a new study commissioned by Humana and conducted by Harris Interactive. About 30 percent of U.S. adults have delayed getting physician-recommended treatments because of high costs, and nearly one in four went into debt because they were unprepared to pay medical expenses, according to the survey. The telephone survey of 2,000 adults, ages 18-64 years, also found that:
These survey results led Humana to join recently with the consumer advocacy group, Consumer Action, in an initiative to help consumers better plan for health care costs. The Family Health Budget Planner, a key element of the initiative, is a financial planning tool available online at www.familyhealthbudget.com. It is designed to help consumers determine how much they spend annually on health care and how much they should be saving for future expenses. The online tool asks users to enter current insurance information, number of family visits to physicians, prescription costs and other categories of health spending. It even takes into account what people say they spend on vitamins, health club memberships, weight-loss programs and other health-related costs. Patients who do a better job of budgeting for health expenses and selecting the benefit plan options they need can be better prepared financially to follow their physician’s treatment and prescription drug recommendations. “This planning tool helps people calculate their health expenses and to see the opportunities they may have for finding ways to save on health expenses through choices they make, through their behaviors and their decisions,” said Tom Noland, Humana vice president for Corporate Communications. The Family Health Budget Planner is also available in a print version from Consumer Action (www.consumer-action.org), a San Francisco-based consumer advocacy and education nonprofit organization. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
