Another reason people get confused about medical cost sharing is because it is not insurance.
The difference is that insurance is a legal contract between the insurance company and the insured.
The insurance company is obligated to provide payment for your healthcare coverage. That agreement hasn’t changed. So there is a bit of a leap of faith – especially if you’re living in the 20th Century.
What has changed is the health insurance industry. Healthcare insurance companies are consolidating and merging, trying to cut costs while also raising revenues: namely your premiums. This trend is giving you fewer options which, based on less supply and more demand, makes medical insurance costs rise.
Right now, health insurers are asking state regulators for massive premium increases for 2016.
Already, some of you are paying about 25% of your monthly income to an insurance policy, according to Bert McComas, founder of Medical Self-Sufficiency. What’s worse is that same policy requires you to pay thousands of dollars more even before the policy pays any of your bills let alone the co-pays you could face if the bill is catastrophic.
Author Steven Brill in his book, Bitter Pill, about the broken healthcare industry says health insurance companies are the next Blockbuster – the now defunct video rental chain. Insurers are consolidating lowering supply which is making prices go up – making insurance less competitive – and leading people to new alternatives.
One of them is medical cost sharing.
But still some of you are skeptical because it is still not insurance.
Well, let’s look at the insurance industry’s goals. Their goal is to make money. They make money by raising premiums and by raising medical costs. They are a middleman who gets his take by raising costs – your costs on the front end and the back-end.
Even though some insurance companies are trying to implement wellness programs that does not help their bottom line. Thus another reason you see costs skyrocketing.
What is medical cost sharing. There is no legal contract. It is not insurance. Therefore, you need to know this, you have no guarantee your bills will be paid.
Instead, you have the faith and word – not a legal contract – of a community of people who think like you do.
Granted, there is no legal contract. But it is in the best interest of each individual in that community to share each other’s bills because at some point I will have medical bills.
That has proven incentive enough for me. But if you need an insurance contract, then that’s your decision.
For more information, you can call this number 888-616-9443 at any time.
In the next segment, we will look at how medical cost sharing – and specifically Liberty HealthShare – leads to healthier lifestyle choices.
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