Health insurance discount cards offer consumers an opportunity to obtain discounted health services for a variety of needs. Many mistakenly believe that when they purchase a health insurance discount card, they are purchasing health insurance. This is not the case. The level of the discount and the applicability of the discount to necessary services is something that consumers should research thoroughly before deciding whether or not a health insurance discount card is the right choice for them.
What Are Health Insurance Discount Cards?
Instead of offering broad coverage for medical needs, health insurance discount cards often allow consumers access to a list of providers that will offer low price services. Often, these discounts are available only to people enrolled in the discount plan. For people who are in good health, or who prefer to fund their health costs themselves, these discounts can be a valuable contribution to their financial strategy.
How Do Health Insurance Discount Cards Work?
A discount plan provider begins by soliciting a list of medical practitioners that agree to offer discounts on their services. These discounts can be small or can sometimes be as high as 70%. This is similar to the negotiated rates that health insurance providers often negotiate with their network of physicians. Upon reaching a sufficient level of discount offerings to merit consideration, the provider then offers enrollment in the discount plan.
Consumers pay a monthly or a yearly fee, often much lower than they would pay for comprehensive health insurance. In return, they are given a health insurance discount card that automatically entitles them to the negotiated discounts on any services that qualify. However not all services are covered by the discount card, and the actual level of discount can change during the enrollment period.
What Are The Advantages?
One of the most obvious advantages of a health insurance discount card is the price. Most plans require one monthly fee for an entire family to enjoy coverage. In a year, the total of these monthly fees can often be less than a person would pay for one month of health insurance coverage. The money that families can save by banking the money they would have paid for health insurance coverage is significant. Also, for people who are in excellent health, these plans can help avoid the excess and unnecessary coverage that comprehensive health insurance provides. On top of that, there is often no limit to the use of a health insurance discount card, and no lifetime benefits limit.
On the other hand, health insurance discount cards offer no protection against medical emergencies. Even a discount of 70% can be insufficient for a truly tragic medical incident since bills for these events can often exceed a hundreds of thousands dollars. Also, discounts that are available to card holders are subject to change, and can often not include the services that a member requires. Since these discounts are at the discretion of the physician, there is no way of telling whether or not a plan is always going to suit a consumer’s needs.
Most Popular Plans
The following plans are some of the most popular health insurance discounts cards:
- Alliance Health Card
- Careington TotalCare Discount Plan
- Assurant Health Discount Plans
- AIGA Health Insurance Discount Card
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