Discount Medical & Health Cards

Beware of Discount Medical/Health Care Programs, Plans and Cards

Consumers and small employersoften contactthe Department of Insurance to ask about discount medical/health care programs, plans and cards. Here is a response from one of our country's smartest public servants.

The questions indicate that some people confuse these programs - sometimes called "referral plans" -- with true health insurance policies, which they are not.

The attraction of a discount health plan is the very low price compared to the premium for a health insurance policy

A web site, for example, advertised a medical care discount program card for the entire family, including pets, for $15.95 a month and promised savings of 10 percent to 40 percent. Another health discount plan's web site offered a range of prices and benefits, with the monthly fee topping out at $64.95 for a deluxe plan that included discounts on hospital bills.

Here are some things to consider before signing up for a health care discount plan:

True discount plans are not health insurance. They offer only discount health care cards that are supposed to entitle you to discounts from participating physicians and hospital. You are responsible for most of the bill for a medical procedure or hospitalization even if you receive the promised discount. Getting a 20 percent discount on a $50,000 operation still leaves you owing $40,000. Some doctors and hospitals might not treat an expensive condition without payment up front or proof of ability to pay.

Some health care discount card sellers are very candid about the fact that their plans are not health insurance, saying so in large letters on their web sites or printed materials. With some others, however, you might need to search hard before finding such a disclaimer, if you find one at all. Some medical care discount programs appear intentionally to leave an impression that they are offering medical benefits usually associated with true health insurance.

Enrollees for a health care discount card should ask for the list of physicians and providers who accept it. If your doctor is on the list, verify that he or she indeed grants discounts to patients who have this particular card and program.There have been many instances in which physicians and providers were unaware they were listed by medical plan discount card programs. There also have been cases in which physicians and providers continued to be listed by the medical plan discount programs long after they had ceased participating.

Ask your doctors to tell you their usual fee for uninsured individuals and the fee they charge people who present the discount medical plan card if you´re considering joining a medical plan discount program. Finally, consider obtaining real health insurance. Yet if the consumer who believes that a discount medical card program has misrepresented benefits or has abused them in some other way should contact the Attorney General of your state.

Looking for affordable health insurance plans for your employees need to be extremely careful in viewing discount medical plan programs as an option. They also need to beware of unlicensed entities ("unauthorized insurers") purporting to market full health insurance benefits at below-market prices. Unauthorized insurers inevitably leave employees in the lurch when they have substantial claims