Health Insurance Articles
Three Policy Types That Are Not True Health Insurance
2010-08-17
As the costs of health insurance coverage continue to climb, many Americans are left struggling to find ways to pay the bills and still keep their coverage intact. This is made even more difficult by the fact that many policies have low maximum yearly limits and high deductibles, meaning that even an up-to-date set of premium payments may still leave the customer with a large amount of out-of-pocket bills to pay. As a result, many people look for alternate, cheaper forms of health insurance or resort to techniques like multiple stacked policies to make ends meet. While some alternate health care insurance options are viable ways to keep an individual or family insured, consumers would be wise to watch out for several common types of policies that masquerade as "real" health insurance but are actually not.
One very common type of health care options that are not true policies are discount health insurance plans. These typically involve the use of a discount "card" that claims to offer deals or savings at certain medical providers. These "plans" offer no real coverage and no ability to claim any expenses such as ambulance rides or surgeries, and the premiums paid every month do nothing but pay for the card. Often, the savings listed by the "plan" are not actually real or will become bogged down in red tape.
Another type of plan will seem legitimate at first and have a similar-sounding company name to the big players in the business. The policy will appear to be sound, but the premiums will be far, far lower than anything else offered. If you see a policy like this, be very sure it is not a scam to take premium dollars and run. Premiums that are far lower than industry standards usually mean little or no coverage. As well, be leery of any plan sold by an unlicensed agent, especially if the agent tells you that the health insurance coverage he or she is selling does not require one. All legitimate plans require that agents must be licensed and should be able to produce contact information for the company itself. Be sure to check out any information given, and always assume that anything that sounds too good to be true probably is.
While options like stacked policies-having more than one health care policy either individually or as a family-may be a legitimate way to get more coverage, avoid plans that are "discounted" or card-based. As well, avoid unlicensed agents, and check out any policy that seems to have rates that are far lower than the industry standard.
