The Principal Financial Group Prompts Customer To Be More Savvy Healthcare Consumers

Several New Web Offerings Allow Health Care Members Access to Pertinent Information

(Des Moines , Iowa ) – The Principal Financial Group,âthe nation’s 401(k) leader and premier provider of employee benefits, announces the roll-out of several new Web-based tools (www.principal.com ) to help consumers and its more than 1.3 million insured and self-funded medical customers become more actively involved in their healthcare.  These interactive tools provide comprehensive information about hundreds of health conditions and treatment options, in addition to evaluations of care provided by more than 5,000 hospitals and acute-care facilities located throughout the United States.

“Since we first entered the medical business in 1941, we have not experienced such urgency for health customers to become proactive in learning about their care and wellness, and getting involved in treatment options,” said Jerry Ripperger, medical product director for The Principal. “Everyone should be able to have a dialog with his or her physician about care and treatment options. What could be more important? By making available these additional tools and resources, our hope is that our customers will become real consumers of their health care and feel comfortable and capable of participating in decisions about their wellness.”

Health Assessment Now Available
The Principal Financial Group launches a series of interactive online tools to help visitors evaluateconditions they may want to discuss with their physicians. Available on the company’s Principal Health NewsSM site, the assessments cover four categories: General Health, Cardiac Health, Diabetes and Fitness. Each assessment takes only minutes to complete. Afterward, members receive a summary of recommended lifestyle changes they can make to improve their health, as well as positive feedback on what they’re doing right. The results are followed by links to self-care centers, calculators and other resources for further research.  These Health Assessment tools are now available to anyone under the “Interactive Resources” heading at www.principal.com/principalhealthnews.

New Resources for Health Care Members in Spring 2004

Health Conditions & Treatment Options – Health care members of The Principal will be able to research broad categories of care (e.g., “Bone/Muscle/Joint Surgery” or “Obstetrics”) or treatment options for a specific condition, with a list of questions to ask the doctor and the insurance company provided. In addition, the tool provides data on risks associated with different treatments (i.e. “Percent of procedures resulting in complications”), as well as the estimated days the patient will need to stay in the hospital.

Facility Evaluations – Health care members will be able to search for hospitals within a particular distance.  The tool then ranks the facilities based on the importance of the criteria provided by the member, such as volume of patients treated, complications and post-operative infections rates and accreditation. The member can then research the hospitals’ history with the chosen treatment method, including such factors as the number of patients receiving the selected treatment in the past year and complication rates.

Cost Related Information – By using this online tool, health care members will be able to view a range of inpatient costs related to a specific procedure by facility, giving them the information needed to better plan the out of pocket costs they might incur (should they choose the particular procedure and facility), as well as costs their employer could potentially incur.

Health Consumerism a Must According to Principal Financial Well-Being Index

According to the most recent Principal Financial Well-Being IndexSM, a quarterly survey of over 1,100 employees of small and midsize businesses, respondents reported the cost of their share of their employer-sponsored health care benefit had increased. While the average anticipated wage increase was expected to be only 3 to 4 percent, 65 percent of respondents reported they planned to absorb the cost increase and make no changes to healthcare coverage.

“What this data indicates is that health care members are becoming more fiscally responsible for their own care during a time of low raises and increased cost of living,” noted Ripperger. “Our online resources will allow our health customers to be one step ahead of this shift.”

Principal Health News and the Health Assessment functionality is powered by Consumer Health Interactive (CHI), a San Francisco-based company. CHI develops customized Web sites for major healthcare companies and provides users with high-quality, original health content and tools. The health conditions, treatment options, facility evaluations and cost functionality tools are powered by Subimo. Subimo is a provider of comprehensive, web-based health care decision tools and information.

About the Principal Financial Group
The Principal Financial Group(The Principal ®)[1] is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance and mortgage banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. More employers choose the Principal Financial Group for their 401(k) plans than any other bank, mutual fund, or insurance company in the United States[2].  A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $134.8 billion in assets under management[3] and serves some 14.8 million customers worldwide from offices inAsia, Australia , Europe, Latin America and the United States . Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit  www.principal.com.

Insurance products issued and administrative services for self-funded medical benefits provided by Principal Life Insurance Company, flagship company of The Principal, Des Moines, IA 50392.

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[1] " "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.

[2] CFO Magazine, April/May 2003, based on total plans served in 2002 by insurance companies, banks and investment firms.

[3] As of September 30, 2003