When facing a serious medical situation, dealing with the mountain of bills and insurance documents could only add insult to injury.
Millions of Americans are overwhelmed by this task, frustrated by the inefficient methods currently used to manage this important information. Some toss unopened bills in a bin, waiting to receive a final collection notice before making a payment. Others cram paperwork into overflowing files and folders, with no sense of what's where. And still others try to keep detailed records on the backs of envelopes, hoping to find them in the future.
The result? Unpaid bills. Overpaid bills. Misplaced paperwork. Lost tax deductions. Unnecessary stress.
To ease this burden, Quicken® Medical Expense Manager, a new product from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), was created to help people better manage their medical bills, allowing them to focus on the important matters such as getting healthy or caring for a loved one. The product gives users greater control by providing a simple way to track medical bills and insurance information for each family member - including pets - all in one place.
Medical Expenses Lead to Bankruptcy A report by the Center for Studying Health System Change found that 57.3 million Americans aged 18-64 years old suffer from a chronic medical condition and among those, one in five have had trouble paying medical expenses. Health care costs are rising and the impact is financial as well as physical. Each year, half of all bankruptcies filed in the United States are related to illness or medical bills.
Quicken Medical Expense Manager is designed to help anyone who feels overwhelmed by the chore of keeping track of medical expenses. People with chronic illness or injury, people with multiple insurance carriers, seniors, caregivers, new parents, and more will be able to:
- Keep Critical Medical Information in One Place: Automatically create individual medical and prescription histories, keep records of past bills and payments, and maintain important contact information.
- Avoid Overpayment: Manage bills and payments, find and fix billing and insurance errors with prewritten dispute letter templates and make the most of flexible spending account contributions.
- Monitor Spending and Benefit Plans: Track insurance payments to ensure maximization of benefits. Also track expenses toward potential tax write offs.
- Quickly Find Important Information: Sort, search and view reports instantly based on family member, medical provider, injury or illness, insurance, status, date and more. Unlike spreadsheets, Quicken Medical Expense Manager displays the information that is important to track and finds tax-deductible medical expenses, including mileage, prescriptions and insurance premiums.
Created by Real-Life Needs
Faced with more than $1 million in medical bills resulting from his infant son's illness and surgeries, Intuit employee Dan Robinson found it overwhelmingly difficult to interpret the massive amounts of documentation he received from hospitals and insurance companies. He was, however, uniquely positioned to help himself and those in similar situations.
Following Intuit's ongoing focus to solve unmet customer needs, Robinson channeled his personal medical expense frustrations into a new product idea that led to the creation of Quicken Medical Expense Manager.
One early customer said it took only minutes for the software to solve long-standing problems.
"This is life-saving software," said Francois Bonaparte from California in an e-mail to Intuit after using the product for just an hour. "The paperwork associated with my cancer treatments and my daughter's doctor visits for a rare chromosomal disorder was overwhelming. It's impossible to keep track of all the information. Your product will save me so much time and money and free me of the mental burden I've carried for so long."
That's exactly the response the developers hoped for.
"Being able to make this kind of difference in people's lives is why we come to work everyday," said Peter Karpas, vice president and general manager, Quicken Personal Finance Group. "If Quicken Medical Expense Manager can help people have a better sense of control in what is otherwise an uncontrollable situation, then what we've done here is worthwhile."
Product Availability and Pricing
Quicken Medical Expense Manager is available at www.quickenmedical.com for an introductory price of $49.99, which includes a $20 discount. Suggested retail price is $69.99.
