REDUCED COST HEALTHPLANS (NOT HEALTH INSURANCE)
If it sounds too good to be true…
What if I were to tell you your whole family could get a medical health plan that also included prescriptions, dental, vision and legal coverage for $115 per month? How can this be possible when your current San Diego employee health insurance costs $600 (or $700, or...) per month and doesn’t even include Dental insurance?
Well folks, I have found a plan for just this cost, regardless of your age, right here in San Diego County.
Of course, there is the proverbial catch.
You will not have health insurance.
You will have a discount plan, allowing you to get discounts similar to what the health insurance companies receive. For example, if your hospital bill were $20,000 retail, your discounted price would be about $11,000. And prescriptions would only be $64 instead of the $87 (in the example I researched). Doctor visits (general practice) would be only $62 instead of $150. And the same discounts (although not as great) apply to dental treatments. Participating dentists offer up to 20% off retail costs.
There is value to these plans.
If you do not have group health insurance (with the guarantees it provides for pre-existing conditions), you may choose to have a high deductible health insurance plan ($3000 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.
Many of the major PPO plans (for example, Blue Cross & Blue Shield) require contracted providers pass along their discounts 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. Usually that is the most you will need to pay at participating providers in a calendar year, regardless of the total costs.
Yes, health 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, and not demand we keep ourselves optimally healthy, health insurance costs will continue to escalate. I do recommend that you consider going to a higher deductible health insurance plan, and either self-insure for the smaller items or get a plan to cover some of these costs. Consider funding your Health Savings Account to save tax-free for future medical, dental or optical expenses.
