Fairly often I will receive a phone call from someone asking how a certain discount health plan that they have come across on the Internet compares price wise with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona. I like phone calls like these actually, giving me the opportunity to possibly save someone a lot of heartache and money down the road. https://higginscompanies.com/health-insurance/health-savings-plan/
With discount health plans a person will supposedly receive discounted rates when receiving care from a certain list of doctors and pharmacies, paying a monthly or annual fee for this, “benefit.” Often the health plans tout discounts of nearly 70%. The old saying, “If it sounds too good to be true…,” comes to mind.
Local insurance commissioners have not been able to regulate these discount plans because they are not true health insurance policies. After purchasing one of these discount plans those enrolled soon find out that the list of doctors participating is much smaller than advertised, the discounts are based on abnormally high retail prices, or their local pharmacy does not accept the plan. After paying an enrollment fee up front of $100 or more, patients have found it difficult to cancel their contract once they learn that all is not as it seemed initially. Harder still is finding out who the actual company is that sells these plans, often a confusing list of administrators and trusts involved.
Usually I will start the conversation with a rhetorical question when asked to compare a discount plan to Blue Cross of Arizona, first making it clear that one policy is true health insurance, the other a discount plan. The question is then asked, how can a non-profit organization such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona charge more for seemingly similar coverage and the other company charge much less in many cases? Being a non-profit Blue Cross of Arizona does not have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize profits for it’s shareholders for the simple fact that there are no shareholders, it is a non-profit. The other company is in business to make money, yet charge so much less, how can this be? This is when common sense kicks in and the caller starts to wonder if the discount health plan is actually too good to be true, which it is of course in most cases.
The same cannot be said for discount dental plans. Offering similar deep discounts and lists of participating dentists, some of these dental discount plans are quite good. Like anything though, a little homework is in order, shopping for the most reliable company and best rates. One example of this type of company is TDAHP.
Michael Higgins
602.405.8769
An Arizona health insurance broker.