Health Insurance Articles
How Regulations Outlaw Many Types Of Health Insurance Discounts
2011-07-29
Many insurance industries use discounts to try to entice new customers and drive business. However, health insurance policies in the United States have to abide by a completely different set of regulations. Because of these regulations, health insurance discounts are illegal - at least in a very traditional sense.
According to federal law, health insurance discounts are illegal, because policy premiums need to be figured the same way for different types of customers without any chance of discrimination. Two policy holders with roughly the same medical histories need to be priced in the same way. A standard car insurance or life insurance policy could have discounts figured in for homeowners or other specific groups, but this isn't the case with health insurance. Virtually any type of discount could be seen as discriminatory pricing and is therefore illegal under federal law and under the guidelines set by many state insurance commissions. Health insurance companies won't advertise health insurance discounts and won't offer any traditional discount programs.
However, there are options in most plans to limit health care costs. Prescription medication costs can be managed with special discount cards which greatly reduce the price of name-brand and generic medications. When health insurance companies refer to discounts, they're usually talking about these cards or some other type of add-on coverage that isn't closely related to the main coverage of a policy. Discount cards may not actually affect the price of health insurance policies, but they're an essential tool for lowering the cost of health care for a household. Discount cards can decrease the cost of medication by an enormous amount, as co-payments for medications with a discount card are often less than $30-50. They're one of the most popular types of health insurance add-on coverages and can be considered as a valuable discount, as medication is a regular, predictable cost of the United States health care system.
The regulations that prevent health insurance discounts may seem unfair to consumers, but their purpose is to make insurance costs fairer and to help individuals manage their health care without endlessly researching new discount programs. They prevent discriminatory pricing and make insurance buying a fairly easy process. To get the lowest possible rates, buyers need to look online at different health insurance policies. It's important to consider the coverage offered by each policy and the total cost of health care under each plan rather than just the premiums. Carefully considering all of the factors involved in a health insurance policy is the best way to keep costs low, and even without discounts, comparison shopping is a smarter way to buy.
