What EXACTLY is "Affordable Health?"?

Question

I'm not talking about Affordable Health as a general term- I mean an actual plan/program called Affordable Health. I heard from someone (in Kansas) that it provides health insurance at a discount and will help negotiate bills with hospitals, etc. She even has a meeting with someone about it coming up but that's pretty much all she knows about it thus far. Has anyone else out there heard about this? Any info you can provide would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Be careful with indemnity plans. They have their place (such as a supplement to another insurance plan, as a short term solution, or if you cannot get a plan because of health conditions) but if you have a $100,000 hospital bill and the plan pays less than $10,000 you'll find it's not quite so affordable anymore.

Answer 2

If this is the plan you are asking about http://affordable-health.com/. This is NOT health insurance. This is an indemnity plan that pays a set benefit per event that is covered. For example it pays $50 per Dr visit. It pays these amounts to you not to the DR. You will pay the DR for the visit and then file a claim to get your $50 from the insurance company. Your medical bills could be much higher than the benefits provided in this plan. This type of plan is good for someone that can't afford a health insurance policy or for someone who has a high deductible and wants to use this plan to help offset the deductible. Just remember this plan pays up to $500 per day of hospitalisation if the hospital bill turns out to be $1,000 per day you will owe the difference.

Answer 3

It's not insurance.  It's a list.  They won't negotiate anything for you.  YOu pay a monthly fee, you get a list of doctors.  When you try to use that list and ask for a discount, 75% of the doctors don't even know they're on the list, and 90% won't give you a discount - or if they do, it's the normal cash discount they offer.  

It's cheap, because you don't get anything except a piece of paper.  You do the legwork, you do the negotiating, you do all the paying.