The key word here is understanding. You are out there making healthcare decisions for yourself, your family, or your employees without understanding all the options. This may be causing you to unknowingly be contributing to the growing cost of healthcare. The more significant contributor is that “not understanding” isn’t the consumer’s fault because they are simply basing decisions on the advice of a “professional” more often than not.
(And by “professional” I mean the agents, brokers, and insurance company reps who receive commissions/compensation based on the overall cost of coverage… in other words; yes, the more you pay for health insurance, the more me and my industry peers “the professionals” get paid)
If you’re wondering why I seem to be throwing myself and all my peers under the bus, it’s simple… The current system is jacked-up; there are nearly 50 million Americans who have no health insurance coverage. The professionals with the knowledge to help have no incentive to understand and/or provide lower cost alternatives, and they do exist. There are insurance professionals out there I regularly speak with that show a blatant ignorance to key solutions. The reason I am calling my profession out is because I am finally frustrated enough to do something about it.
I got out of the insurance business for about a year and have recently found my way back with a renewed sense of purpose. This time around it’s no longer about right or wrong, left or right, or choosing this broker over that broker; it’s about providing a resource where none exists… it’s about educating the decision makers… It is about providing the information you need when you need it… It’s about individuals and business owners having access to unbiased information as they choose the best options for their employees and families.
As I said in my previous blog post (The Intro), the single most important factor in finding a solution to the current healthcare system is individual consumer. But not just any individual consumer; the ones who are actually fed up enough to do something about it!
What do I mean by fed up? Lets put it this way: if you realized that you paid $3000 more than you should have last year for health insurance expenses then “fed up” is putting it lightly. Check out this client scenario below and you’ll see what I mean…
Example Scenario: A Family of 4 has group health insurance through the husbands job at a very well know large corporation. The company pays for $500/mo of the plan but the husband still has to pay an additional $350/mo out of his paycheck to ensure that the whole family has coverage (total cost of coverage is $850/mo).
Through a series of circumstances, the husband is no longer employed at the large corporation as he pursues his life dream to be an entrepreneur.
By default he starts to evaluate all of his options for family healthcare coverage. We find him a policy that offers better overall protection for his out of pocket liability while providing coverage for the whole family at just $360/mo. Break it down a bit further and compare the cost to cover just the spouse and 2 children on their new plan @ $240/mo to the amount deducted from the husbands paycheck for family coverage with the old plan @ $350/mo. The simple point is that the family was paying $110/mo ($1320/yr) more than necessary to receive less overall coverage. If this family would have taken the time to understand all of their options sooner they may have saved several thousand dollars.
More info click here