Stop the (healthcare) madness! I often lecture (both when asked and not) about one of the most defective, yet easily correctable parts of our healthcare system. That is…our penchant for insuring risks that are neither catastrophic nor unexpected in cost or aspect. The administrative costs associated with processing lower cost healthcare claims slows down the system, and inflates already high premium costs. Here are just a few examples* of “risks” that most health insurance plans insure and thus provide benefits for, when out of pocket limits are reached:
* Source: Healthcare Bluebook; location – Omaha, NE 68136.
It just doesn’t make good financial sense to purchase insurance and pay premiums to insure such risks…and there are many more examples. So called “high deductible health plans” or HDHP’s are a great alternative to traditional, “copay based” health insurance plans, and generally have lower premiums. Remember, insurance is designed to protect one from a financial loss resulting from an unanticipated, and sometimes, catastrophic loss. The aforementioned examples are neither.
So, here is a list of my “top 10 non-insurance healthcare payment options”:
I’ve blogged about most of the above options in the past, so feel free to use the “blog search” feature within our website to learn more about some of these lower cost, practical ways to pay for certain healthcare expenses…and help stop the madness!
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