What is a Discount Medical Plan?

Discount medical plans have emerged as a successful alternative for meeting the needs of individuals and families that are unable to afford or qualify for traditional health insurance.  Discount medical plans are not health insurance.

If you don’t currently have health insurance, you’re not alone.  Today there are 45 million Americans with no health coverage at all.  The increasing cost of health insurance continues to force more individuals and employers to drop much needed medical protection.  Underwriting standards also contribute to the dilemma when people with ongoing medical conditions are turned down for insurance or priced out of the system. forex Barcelona

You, as a consumer, agree to pay the discount medical plan a low monthly fee.  As a member of the plan you have access to discounts averaging 20-70% for health care services and prescriptions if you go to the doctor, medical care facility, hospital, or pharmacy (provider) that has a contract with the discount health plan or its network of providers.  The provider has agreed to accept a lower payment from the discount medical plan members.  Again, discount medical plans are not health insurance plans.  The plans do not, nor are they intended to, provide comprehensive health care coverage. 

Advantages

• If you have no insurance, either because you don’t qualify, your employer doesn’t offer coverage, or the coverage is too expensive, you can decrease what you pay for necessary health services through the discount health plan. This allows you to obtain more health services for a lower monthly fee.

• Some individuals sign up for these plans to help augment a high deductible insurance policy.  If your health insurance policy has large deductibles you must pay before the insurance company will pay, you can buy a membership in a discount medical plan to get more services for your out of pocket expenses.

• Some discount medical plans do not have restrictions on existing medical conditions.  Often when you have had a recent health problem and try to purchase health insurance, you are turned down because you have been previously treated for a health condition or still have a health problem.  Some of the discount medical plans, which include Healthcare Advantage, do not care if you already have a health problem or have been treated for one in the past.  The discount plan will let you enroll in the plan, since they are not paying for any of the services, only guaranteeing discounts for their member’s services.