New Alegeus Research Explores Consumer Spending & Saving ‘Moments of Truth’ in Healthcare

Research affirms that financial decisions, such as planning for
out-of-pocket costs, are rising in importance and causing significant
frustration for consumers

WALTHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Alegeus,
the market leader in consumer directed healthcare (CDH) solutions, today
released new consumer research, 2016
Healthcare ‘Moments of Truth,’
that aimed to better understand the
critical “moments of truth” that consumers face along their healthcare
journey. Commissioned by Alegeus and conducted by a third party research
firm, the program surveyed more than 4,000 U.S. consumers to understand
their attitudes, behaviors and preferences with respect to managing
different aspects of their healthcare – such as choosing benefits,
planning for out-of-pocket costs, managing healthcare finances, making
healthy lifestyle choices, accessing care, shopping for best value,
interpreting bills and beyond.

As the healthcare market shifts toward individual responsibility for
healthcare costs, consumers are challenged to take a more active role in
managing virtually all aspects of their healthcare. In the past, with
benefit-rich health plans bearing the majority of costs, consumers
didn’t have to think beyond plan selection – leading to an overall lack
of fluency and engagement, often-irresponsible spending and limited
focus/discipline around saving for healthcare. Through better
understanding of consumer beliefs and experiences today, this research
offers unique insights into how the industry can better engage and
empower consumers to transform their behavior – leading to lower costs
and better outcomes for all. Key findings include:

  • Consumers are increasingly focused on cost implications of their
    choices. 76% of consumers now say they are very focused on getting the
    best value for their healthcare dollars
  • 66% of consumers rate “planning for out-of-pocket costs” as the most
    challenging and stressful aspect of managing their healthcare
  • Other decisions that consumers find particularly challenging include:
    determining an appropriate savings rate, understanding out of pocket
    responsibilities prior to receiving care, comparing costs and
    assessing whether medical charges are correct
  • Consumers expressed universally-low levels of confidence (less than
    33%) in decision-making across all facets of healthcare, affirming
    that consumers need significant support to take a more active role in
    their care
  • Consumers want simple explanations in human language. 69% of consumers
    claimed deciphering healthcare jargon to be a significant barrier to
    decision-making
  • Surprisingly, consumers still value human interaction above all other
    types of support and across all segments, including millennials.
    However, as consumers build confidence and mobile adoption increases,
    interest in self-service support and digital decision-making tools
    grows
  • Those enrolled in consumer-directed health plans, whether by choice or
    necessity, are more value-conscious and financially savvy, with 22%
    more focused on savings, 25% more interested in understanding cost
    implications of different choices, and 3 times more interested in
    transparency tools

“This research affirms that people feel the impact of the consumerism
movement in healthcare and struggle to manage their increased financial
responsibility,” said Steve Auerbach, Alegeus CEO. “This shift to a more
consumer-driven healthcare system represents a complete paradigm change
for consumers in terms of how they must manage their healthcare and
requires more than just new benefit designs that aim to simply shift
financial accountability from payer to consumer. It will require
comprehensive and year-round programs and support that educate, engage
and empower consumers to take ownership and make savvier decisions.”

With its market-leading consumer directed healthcare platform, Alegeus
empowers consumers to better manage their healthcare finances including
account-based benefits, such as HSAs, FSAs and HRAs. Engaging consumers
during critical spending and saving “moments of truth” with programs and
support designed to empower informed decision-making and more active
involvement, Alegeus helps consumers maximize the value of their
healthcare dollars.

Learn more about the healthcare moments of truth research here:

  • Click
    here
    to download the full research report
  • Visit www.alegeus.com/consumerism
    to register for a digital podcast and webinar series that discusses
    not only these research findings but also more insights on empowering
    the modern healthcare consumer
  • Hear Alegeus’ Chief Growth Officer, Leslie Antunes, discuss this
    research live at ECFC’s
    29th Annual Administrators’ Symposium
    on Thursday,
    August 4th from 11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

About Alegeus

Alegeus is the market leader in consumer directed healthcare (CDH)
solutions, offering the industry’s most comprehensive platform for the
administration of healthcare benefit accounts (including FSAs, HSAs,
HRAs, wellness incentive, dependent care, and commuter accounts), the
industry’s most widely-used benefit debit card, and powerful engagement
solutions to help consumers maximize savings and optimize spending for
their healthcare. Over 300 clients – including health insurance plans,
third party administrators and financial institutions – leverage
Alegeus’ deep expertise and proven technology to administer benefit
accounts for more than 29 million members and process more than $8.9
billion in consumer healthcare payments annually. As the healthcare and
benefit markets continue to evolve, Alegeus delivers solutions that
enable clients to evolve their service offerings, operate their
businesses more efficiently, and focus on their customers. The company
is headquartered in Waltham, MA with operations in Orlando, FL and
Milwaukee, WI.

Contacts

Alegeus
Jennifer Irwin, 414-699-5927
jennifer.irwin@alegeus.com
or
PAN
Communications
Caitlyn Keating, 617-502-4300
alegeus@pancomm.com

Recibe gratis todas las noticias en tu correo

Este sitio está protegido por reCAPTCHA y Google Política de privacidad y Se aplican las Condiciones de servicio.

¡Muchas gracias! Ya estás suscrito a nuestro newsletter

Más sobre este tema
Contenido Patrocinado
Enlaces patrocinados por Outbrain