IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE...
What if I were to tell you your whole family could get a medical plan that also included prescriptions, dental, vision and legal coverage for $115 per month? How can this be possible when your current group plan costs $600 (or $700, or...) per month and doesn't even include dental?
Well folks, I have found a plan for just this cost, regardless of your age, right here in "Ocean View City" (aka, San Diego).
Of course, there is the proverbial catch. You will not have insurance. You will have a discount plan, allowing you to get discounts similar to what the insurer receives. For example, if your hospital bill were $20,000 retail, your discounted price would only be about $11,000. And prescriptions would only be $64 instead of the retail $87 (in my actual example I researched). Doctor visits (general practice) would be only $36 instead of $60. And the same discounts (although not as great) apply to dental treatments. Participating dentists offer up to 20% off retail costs.
There is a value to these plans. If you do not have group insurance (with the guarantees it provides for pre-existing conditions), you may choose to have a high deductible, fully insured plan ($2000 or $5000 deductible). The savings on premium would be enough to have this additional discount program. But to replace your current health insurance with a discount plan is purely a game of Russian Roulette.
You need to be aware that many of the major PPO plans (for example, Blue Cross & Blue Shield) require their participating providers to pass along the discounts they get to you the consumer. So if your hospital/doctor bill is actually retailed at $40,000 and you are responsible for 20%, you are not expected to pay $8000! You will need to pay 20% of the reduced, discounted fee (let's use $25,000 in this case). And, most plans have a "maximum out-of-pocket" limit, such as $3000 or $5000. So that is the most you will need to pay at participating providers in a calendar year, regardless of the total costs.
Yes, insurance is expensive. But it is only a reflection of the cost of our medical care today. As long as we demand to have the best care available, without demanding of ourselves that we keep ourselves optimally healthy, costs will continue to escalate. I do recommend that you consider going to a much higher deductible and either self-insuring for the smaller items or getting a plan to cover some of these costs. We work with a couple payroll deduction plans that offer "first dollar" coverage for employees.
