(1888PressRelease)
July 27, 2007 - While the movie theaters continue to receive newcomers looking to see the latest anti-industry flick, “Sicko”, by Michael Moore, millions of Americans are not even worried about health insurance. While many people consider health insurance a needed commodity, many others are so far removed from the health insurance industry that a typical individual or family health insurance policy is well beyond their reach. Consider the policies offered by major insurance carriers such as Cigna, EHealthInsurance.com, Kaiser, Blue Cross or Aetna. These plans sound great to most people, but the time involved in shopping around for a descent fit for health insurance can be so daunting, that many people take the first thing that comes along, stop worrying about it and, when the time comes, they cross their fingers in hopes that their insurance will pay their claim. For many people, the hard answer comes too late, when they are already in need of major care. When insurance companies turn down claims, people go bankrupt and this is most certainly an abomination to the U.S. economy.
The fact is, health insurance is not a viable answer to many peoples’ hopes and prayers. With premiums in the range of $200-1000 a month, Americans earning less than say $25,000 annually are going to have an extremely difficult time paying and so many of them will simply choose to pay for their own medical or dental care. This is a money saving health care option for many folks when it comes to regular check ups and routine physician or dentist visits. On the other hand, when these same people have car accidents and on the job injuries, insurance may be what’s needed. A major medical insurance policy can be just what the doctor ordered in these cases, as long as they pay.
For people who don’t have insurance or only have a high deductible, low premium catastrophic plan, a discount membership, such as Planrecruiter.com (Ameriplan USA), can be a great way to reduce the cost of everyday routine care. For instance, a doctor visit that normally cost $100 may be reduced to only $50. The savings on a discount plan will vary, but when you factor in the money saved on premiums and a tax deduction on health care expenses, the amount of money saved can actually surpass even the most credible insurance plans.
Here’s just on example:
A health insurance policy from a company such as Cigna, will typically cost about $200-500 a month. The deductible could range from $50-3000 or more, depending on the plan type and other factors. When you add these figures up, here’s what we get: $200 a month over 12 months comes out to $2400 annually. Before even using the insurance once, you may have to wait 3-12 months or even longer in some cases. This is a minimum expense each year. With a discount benefit, your price for the plan will typically be in the range of $50 a month. If we look at one medical procedure, such as a vision correction procedure, a patient may be looking at a retail medical bill of $500-5000 depending on the circumstances. Where it still is questionable if the insurance company will even pay the claim, a discount plan will provide a savings of up to 50% or more without a waiting period or a claim to file. Now let’s compare the totals. With the insurance, we pay $2400 in premiums plus a deductible of say $250 and a small percentage of the medical bill, 20% of 3000 equaling $600, we get a total annual expense of well over $3000. On the other hand, using a discount health benefit that saves just 25% would reduce a bill of $3000 bill to no more than $2300. When you add together a monthly payment for the discount plan of $50, we get an annual cost for the plan of about $600. Since there is no deductible with a medical discount membership, we add the $2300 and the $600 for a total of $2900, a savings of over health insurance.
Many readers may still feel more secure with an insurance policy and may be willing to pay a little more for the “peace of mind” that comes with the word insurance. But when we take other factors into consideration, the answer may be an even easier choice for many Americans. According to the Washington Post and USA Today research available by searching Google.com for “average health insurance cost”, we can see that the average cost of a health insurance policy for a family is actually in the range of $11,000 annually. (USAToday.com). That’s about $1000 a month. This is a devastating figure to millions of Americans who are working long hours just to make incomes of less than $2000 a month. How can they be expected to take care of any other family expenses? This may be a question for the insurance companies themselves, but the fact is, there still is very little transparency on this issue.
What further blots the reputation of insurance is the high deductibles that come with it. Not only that, but there are long waiting periods, many exclusions and restrictions. A health insurance company may even drop a claim based on a pre-existing condition unknown to the patient. This is devastating news, since by the time they are discovered, these rejected claims can put the average American into a state of unforeseen jeopardy, perhaps even bankruptcy.
By Micah Carter
888-849-9393
Planrecruiter.com
Micah Carter is a Regional Director for Ameriplan USA, and with ten years of experience in the health care industry, has written stories about the different facets of the American health care crises. Mr. Carter operates the medical and dental discount website Planrecruiter.com and he brings a fresh perspective to the health insurance lobby in Washington. Google keywords - Micah Carter Ameriplan, Ameriplan press, iboplus, Mybenefitsplus, Ameriplan business, Everyonebenefits
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