Discount Health Plans Should not be Confused with Low-Cost Medical Insurance.

As self-employed individuals and the many others without access to affordable health insurance from their places of business struggle with healthcare costs, many are turning towards Discount Health Plans.

Discount health plans may be affordable, but they are not low cost health insurance, and should not be construed as such. Discount health plans are just that – upon enrolling you are offered a discount for services at participating doctors and other healthcare providers. Because of these groups of participating practitioners in the programs, people often confuse the discount health plans with low cost health insurance, and unfortunately some less than scrupulous Discount Plan providers intentionally muddy this distinction.

While they may be cheap, most insurance professionals advise that persons without medical insurance steer clear of discount plans, and explore other options of actual low-cost private health insurance. For two main reasons; One, because people do often confuse them with actual health insurance, they are lulled into a false sense of security thinking they have protections that they do not have. And two, most of the time a consumer can negotiate the same or even better discounts directly with the healthcare providers, without having to pay the fees to join the discount plan. In fact one piece of advice that professionals give is to do just that, before joining any discount plan, obtain the list of providers. Once you do, if you are seriously considering the plan, call and verify that the doctors you are planning on using do indeed participate and do actually offer the discount, and if they do see if they will offer you the same discount directly, more often than not they will.

As supplement to actual low cost medical insurance such as a High Deductible Consumer Directed Heath plan (CDHP); a discount card for say vision, dental or prescription drugs, may be a way to save on some out of pocket costs, but as a primary vehicle to pay for healthcare, they are usually not a worthwhile investment.

Remember that a Discount Heath Plan does not pay claims like a health insurance. You must pay even for the discounted rate, in full at the time services are rendered, and this can still be quite costly. Yet, for some in certain financial situations a discount health plan may be the only practical option. In that case be sure to check with your local better business bureau or States Attorney General’s office before committing to a given discount plan, and as always read the fine print.