Uber health savings
A new health insurance app will make it easier for consumers to compare quotes, writes
SENSIBLE LOAN: Kylie Gordon, her husband Justin, and five-month-old baby daughter Charlotte at their home. THE painstaking process of finding a health practitioner and then calculating the out-ofpocket costs is a sore point for many insurance members.
The individual variation in costs between health practitioners and the complexity of rebates and exceeding caps has made it hard for consumers to understand what they will end up spending.
But one of the nation’s largest insurers, Medibank, is the first to have access to the new app, HICAPS Go, which could be better described as the “uber” of healthcare.
It makes it easier for consumers to find a health practitioner, get a quote, book and pay all in the one spot.
Customers can find what each practitioner charges and know exactly the amount of money they will get back.
The technology has been rolled out in Victoria first with a goal of a national rollout across all insurers by next year.
Medibank’s chief customer officer David Koczkar said the new technology should make what is a complicated health system a simplified experience for consumers.
“By the time our customers get a referral or a recommendation from a friend it may be too hard to get another quote or investigate other providers,’’ he said. “Health is complicated and we are trying to simplify the experience.
“I think we are not too far away from having a simple two- or three-step process to solve customers’ needs which includes what you are covered for, what your limit is and what your quote is going to be and you can make the booking.”
Mr Koczkar said consumers getting dental and physiotherapy treatments can sometimes save between 15 and 30 per cent by choosing a more cost-effective provider.
Since the launch of HICAPS Go, other insurers to join include NIB, HIF, St Luke’s Health , Phoenix Health Fund and Teachers Health. They will be available in the app soon.
NAB’s general manager of health, Cameron Fuller, said the new technology makes it simple for a consumer “to locate a practitioner within their area.”
“It helps them understand the cost of the appointment and the out-of-pocket costs to the consumer as well as the rebate their health fund will be providing them,’’ he said.