Photo: Margaret Lett and Benngi
Local company launches consumer-driven health care app.
Managing one’s wellness journey through varying stages of life can be tricky, but a local company has been working on a solution in our own backyard.
A Woodbury-based insure-tech company, Benafica, launched its wellness app nationwide in June 2022. Previously available only to Benafica clients, the health portal provides a safe and lasting space to track and level up your wellness journey.
“All of us have our health care information in way too many places today, so that’s why I describe BenngiHealth as the first universal electronic health care application,” says Benafica founder Margaret Lett. “… No matter what happens in your life, you’re really in control of your health care, and you have your health care records, and it’s not about your insurance company, it’s not about your employer, it’s about you.”
BenngiHealth is available as a mobile app and web portal, and, along with securely storing medical records, can assist with managing providers, recording vitals, holding emergency contact information and more. Under the supportive gaze of BenngiHealth’s avatar—Lett’s own pet, a schnauzer named Benngi—users can manage their wellness with ease.
“The idea is that he’s your health care buddy, and he’s going to stay with you through your health care journey,” Lett says. “… [Benngi is] just naturally very loving, very protective and sticks by you. He’s not the kind of dog that’s going to run off. He’s there making sure everything’s OK.”
With selective sharing options, users can choose to share pieces of their account with others, such as a partner or caretaker. Whether it’s all records or just their wellness calendar, this selective sharing is a way Lett and her siblings have been able to keep track of their mother’s eye appointments. While Lett’s mother continues to maintain her own account, she shares the calendar portion with her family to coordinate travel to-and-from appointments.
Families can also benefit from the app with a family subscription option that allows up to five subscriptions. As children get older, they have the option to graduate out of their parents’ account, allowing them to choose what they’d like to share with their parents and when. Lett says she has especially noticed the app being used by co-parents to streamline and share their children’s health records and appointments.
“It becomes a neutral platform for them to both parent and contribute and help raise their kids together,” Lett says. “… Our health care isn’t just about us. It’s about the people we love.”
BenngiHealth
Facebook: Benafica
