Healthpilot, a software company that uses artificial intelligence to help wealth managers and their clients select and enroll in Medicare health insurance plans, launched earlier this week, ahead of Medicare’s annual enrollment period. It has also partnered exclusively with Envestnet, an investor in the company.
Anyone can use Healthpilot’s software at no cost, including advisors and their clients through Envestnet’s financial planning software, MoneyGuide, and other Envestnet services. (Insurance companies pay Healthpilot a commission when someone enrolls in a plan.) Envestnet, a turnkey asset management platform and software juggernaut, is used by 6,000 financial firms and nearly 108,000 financial advisors serving $5.2 trillion in assets.
Envestnet said it was one of Healthpilot’s first investors when it was founded in 2020. It declined to say whether it was the largest investor or if it owned a majority stake in Healthpilot.
Healthpilot co-founder and CEO Dave Francis hopes to serve thousands of advisors and millions of customers, and described the platform as an AI-driven, Amazon-style marketplace for Medicare insurance plans. Users share their address, doctor, pharmacy, and prescription medicine with Healthpilot, which then leverages that information to recommend Medicare plans.
“That algorithm finds the best plan for that customer and presents it to them in a really easy-to-understand way,” Francis said. “Here is what your monthly premium is, here your doctor is covered, your drugs are covered, your pharmacy is covered, and here are the other benefits that you get like a free gym membership or whatever it might be.”
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Enrolling in a suggested plan takes only a few clicks, like buying most things online today. Healthpilot then electronically prepares the required documents and enrolls the user in the plan, Francis said.
Healthpilot currently works with some of the largest health insurance companies (Aetna, Anthem, Humana, United Healthcare, Centene, WellCare, and HCSC) that together account for millions of Medicare policyholders.
Financial advisors and clients can use Healthpilot directly at its website, or through the Envestnet app. But there are advantages to leveraging Healthpilot through Envestnet because of the integrations between them, the companies say.
“The Healthpilot platform will communicate back through the Envestnet platform to that advisor what plan their client enrolled in, and what the financial impact of that insurance plan is going to be for that customer for the coming year,” Francis said.
Any modifications to health plans made by insurers are communicated back to the user.
“Our platform, every year, checks up on your health status as a customer and what’s the best insurance for you, just the way that a financial advisor is checking in on how the financial plan is meeting your expectations and needs as you continue through your retirement,” Francis said.
There are 62 million people in the U.S. eligible for Medicare, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the number is projected to increase to 79 million by 2030, according to the Congressional Budgets Office, as more of the baby boomer generation retires.
As investors near retirement, they must make choices related to both their spending and their healthcare expenses.
“You’re faced with decisions as you get towards that, you know, retirement age, and those decisions are, how am I going to have enough money to live, and, and sustain a really high-quality life, but also how do I make decisions around making sure that I’m covering my health care?” Bill Crager, co-founder and CEO of Envestnet, said.
Crager believes healthcare is an integral piece of financial planning. He said they are working to expand the breadth of Envestnet to include the entirety of somebody’s financial life. Going beyond just investing to include insurances, healthcare and other marketplace solutions.
Holly Deaton (@HollyLDeaton) is a staff writer at RIA Intel and based in New York City.
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