Simplee Helps Consumers Make Smarter 2013 Open Enrollment Decisions

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 3, 2012) - Simplee today announced the release of its 2013 Open Enrollment Guide for health insurance consumers. The guide analyzes each user's historical health care insurance consumption to outline strategies for choosing a new insurance plan in 2013 using four key evaluation points. The Simplee Open Enrollment Guide is free and will be distributed to all users beginning October 8, 2012. New users can register now in order to be included in this initial distribution.

Simplee is launching its customized health care decision guide to help consumers better manage Open Enrollment, typically October through November each year. Overwhelmingly, 79% of employees polled by MetLife preferred using decision support tools when making Open Enrollment choices.

The stakes are high as the average family of four spends nearly $9,000 per year in total health expenses, making health care a significant annual budget decision. Unfortunately, many consumers make suboptimal decisions when selecting health benefits insurance plans due to a lack of quality information and process uncertainty. A recent survey by Aflac Workforces Report found 56% of Americans estimate they waste up to $750 a year by choosing the wrong health benefits.

"Health insurers are now required to provide consumers with standardized descriptions of plans, but they only supply half of the information needed to make the best open enrollment decisions," said Tomer Shoval, co-founder and CEO of Simplee. "Simplee's annual Open Enrollment Guide helps consumers first understand how they use insurance so that they can make a more informed decision and reduce the money they waste on ill-fitting health insurance plans." 

The Simplee Open Enrollment Guide helps members choose between a wide range of plans and benefits based on how each individual has used health insurance in the past and their unique preferences for the future.

The Simplee Guide evaluates four key areas:

1. Physician access: tracks the physicians you visit most frequently so that you can determine the best network coverage for your preferred providers;

2. Choosing the right deductible: demonstrates whether individual and family deductibles were met and how to choose the right deductible;

3. Past health care spending: shows past spending on medical bills and insurance coverage by family member and the insurer's share;

4. Tax savings: highlights potential savings with tax-advantaged benefits such as HSAs and FSAs.

For each of these areas, Simplee provides personalized analysis of past medical expenses and insurance usage, as well as detailed recommendations on how best to evaluate this data when choosing a 2013 health insurance plan.

For more information on Simplee and how to take control of your health care expenses, or to sign up for the free Simplee Open Enrollment Guide, please visit http://www.simplee.com.

About Simplee

Simplee is a privately held company that empowers consumers to take control of their health care financials. The free, web-based service helps consumers save time and money with a centralized place for tracking and paying their health care expenses. Simplee's health care dashboard and customizable analytics help consumers better understand and manage their medical benefits and expenses. The company is located in Palo Alto, California, and maintains a development center in Israel. For more information visit: http://www.simplee.com.