Consumer Success Stories
Family Health Budget
summary
The Family Health Budget helps people determine how much they spend annually on health care and how much they should be saving for future expenses. It guides them through the entire health benefits experience, including choosing the best benefits options.
The Family Health Budget, designed to help families throughout the nation successfully plan for and manage their health care expenses, was developed in response to a survey of U.S. adults commissioned by Humana and conducted by Harris Interactive®. It revealed that two out of three Americans say they need and want help budgeting for health care.
Planning for Health Care Expenses
At the heart of the Family Health Budget is a robust but easy-to-use personal finance planning tool. The tool, called the Family Health Budget Planner, and its complementary Family Health Budget website, are designed to educate consumers nationwide on the true cost of health care for themselves and their families. It guides people toward saving for future health care expenses and enables them to make better health care decisions in an environment of ever-rising costs.
When Americans budget, they usually budget only for the basics—food, housing and utilities. The Family Health Budget helps people understand that they need to budget for health care expenses just as they would for any other necessity. And it helps them do it confidently and successfully.
The Need for Family Health Budgets
Rising health care costs continue to be an issue for most consumers. Nearly one third of adults say their family’s health care expenses increased considerably over the past three years, indicating a need for assistance among the general public.
According to the survey, the vast majority of consumers admit they need to be savvier about their health insurance options and also believe this education is their responsibility.
There is a paradigm shift occurring in health benefits, in which employees are taking on greater responsibility for choosing benefits and the costs associated with their selections. But first, they need to understand the differences between benefits plans, from popular Health Savings Accounts to more traditional HMO and PPO plans, so they can choose the most appropriate coverage based on their needs.
How the Family Health Budget Planner Helps
The Family Health Budget Planner helps consumers determine how much they spend annually on health care and how much they should be saving for future expenses. It helps consumers address the financial challenges associated with health care costs and guides them through the entire health benefits experience, including choosing the best benefits options for themselves and their families.
Accessible by anyone at www.familyhealthbudget.com, the Family Health Budget Planner guides consumers on just how much is spent on annual health related products, services and activities. The Planner takes consumers through the process step-by-step, asking for information including:
- Current insurance information
- How many times the family goes to the doctor
- How often prescription medicines are purchased
- How often the family visits the dentist, eye doctor or other specialists.
- It also takes into account costs like vitamins, supplements, health club memberships and weight loss programs.
The Planner then takes all that information and calculates how much a person should be set aside for the entire year, thereby enabling them to better plan for annual expenses. The Family Health Budget website includes additional resources to help consumers understand their health benefits options and use them most effectively, including comparisons of plan types, a glossary and links to related web sites.
