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

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.

About Alegeus

With more than 25 years of growth and innovation, Alegeus is the market leader in SaaS-based healthcare payment solutions. Our highly flexible, white-label platform powers account-based benefit programs such as HSAs, FSAs, HRAs, COBRA, wellness incentives, lifestyle benefits and beyond. We deliver exceptional user experiences and differentiated capabilities that help our partners strengthen their product offerings, operate more efficiently, and unlock their full growth potential. Our partnerships with the industry’s leading health plans, third-party administrators, financial services and benefit solution providers give Alegeus unparalleled reach in the market. And our unique partnership model empowers our clients to achieve outsized results – growing their programs at a rate that is 2-3X the market, and with the highest net promoter scores (NPS) in the industry. We never compete with our clients – we win when they win. Alegeus is headquartered in Waltham, Mass., with operations centers in Orlando and Bangalore, and a large remote workforce.