CIGNA first to offer QUICKEN health expense tracker

Online Tool to Improve the Way Individuals Manage Their Health Finances

BLOOMFIELD, Conn. and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – CIGNA (NYSE:CI) is teaming with Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) to help Americans simplify the management of their healthcare finances.

CIGNA today became the first health plan to make Quicken Health Expense Tracker available to those enrolled in the health service company’s Open Access, PPO, Point of Service and HMO health plans. Quicken Health Expense Tracker is an online, interactive way for individuals to organize, file and reconcile their healthcare financial information in a way that will help them make more informed decisions about their medical expenses.

Quicken Health Expense Tracker integrates seamlessly with existing online tools and capabilities available on the secure, personal Web site for those enrolled in CIGNA plans, www.myCIGNA.com. The product helps individuals easily see how much they owe and why, provides insight into their healthcare spending and assists them in identifying and resolving any potential issues. Quicken Health Expense Tracker simplifies the individual’s claims and billing paperwork by retrieving, organizing and explaining their personal medical and pharmacy information all in one place – automatically, securely, accurately and at no additional cost.

“One of the reasons we chose CIGNA was their innovative approach to healthcare, and we believe Quicken Health Expense Tracker will change the way health expenses are handled in the future,” said Kathy Aslin, director of employee benefits at Six Flags, Inc., one of the companies to beta test the new service. “Our employees have already found this system to be incredibly useful and easy to use. It helps them recognize, appreciate and better utilize the total value of the health benefits we provide for them. This tool delivers on its promise and, over time, will help drive down administrative costs as well.”

CIGNA is regularly adding new online decision support tools to help people recognize healthcare needs, understand treatment options, select the best physicians and facilities and effectively manage finances; all throughout an entire healthcare episode.

“Today our challenge is how we can make the process simpler and more effective for people as they take on more responsibility in managing their healthcare,” said Thomas Richards, CIGNA HealthCare senior vice president. “A key facet of this process is making the management of healthcare expenses as easy and familiar as reconciling other household bills and finances. Being first to market with this innovative offering from Intuit is a very important step in our efforts to add the latest online capabilities to help people better understand how their health benefits work and how to get the most out of them.”

Recent studies conducted by Intuit found that while 83 percent of individuals spend a significant amount of time trying to organize, file and reconcile their healthcare financial information, only 34 percent actually read and understand their explanation of benefits. In teaming up with Intuit, CIGNA addresses these issues head-on, helping millions of individuals understand and better manage their healthcare spending.
A Proven Approach to Solve a New, Unmet Problem

Quicken Health Expense Tracker has been developed by Intuit using the customer-driven innovation approaches that have made Intuit’s TurboTax®, Quicken® and QuickBooks® household names. So far, the Quicken Health Group, led by senior vice president and general manager, Peter Karpas, has conducted in-depth research with more than 7,800 individuals, and filed for more than six dozen patent applications.

Early feedback confirms that the product is creating engaged employees. When surveyed, a remarkable nine out of ten beta testers agreed that Quicken Health Expense Tracker would do all of these things: increase their likelihood of understanding costs, bills and insurance benefit information; help them with next steps to resolve issues; minimize surprises related to their healthcare expenses; and increase their sense of safety and comfort in dealing with their healthcare.

“At Intuit, simplifying complex tasks for people is what we do best, and we know people need help with healthcare finances,” said Karpas. “The positive early feedback for the product, and working with a forward-thinking company like CIGNA, has been incredibly motivating. It lets us know that we are on the right track to empower individuals and give them both a sense of control as well as peace of mind when they are dealing with this complex, confusing and important task.”