Jordan Goodman is the author of Everyone's Money Book, available at 888-201-6300. This is the third edition of the book. You can also visit his Web site at www.moneyanswers.com. He talks with us on Thursday mornings.

July 17, 2003

"Medical Re-pricing as an Alternative to Health Insurance"

So, what are you supposed to do if you either can’t afford traditional health insurance, your employer drops your policy, or you can’t get coverage at any price because of pre-existing medical conditions?

You can do what I do, which is join a medical re-pricing plan and combine it with a high-deductible major medical insurance policy. Here is how this alternative to traditional health insurance works:

You pay a fixed monthly fee of at most $70 per family, which gives you access to a network of over 380,000 doctors, generalists and specialists. This covers internal medicine, OB-GYN, dentists, veterinarians, alternative medicine like chiropractors and acupuncture, drug discounts and surgeons. When you go to a doctor, dentist, drug store or other provider, you show them your card and your bill is re-priced on the spot to between 40% and 60% off the regular retail price. In effect, you are paying the same price that the best negotiators around, the HMOs and insurance companies are paying after their hefty discounts. Doctors love it because they get paid right away the same amount they would get from the insurance company several months later.

Medical re-pricing is not insurance, as it does not reimburse you for medical services or pay doctors directly. Instead, it is a way for the average person to qualify for the best discounts around. An appropriate analogy is like having a membership in Sam’s Club or Costco: You pay a fee to get in the door and then you can buy unlimited stuff at wholesale prices. With medical re-pricing there are no premiums, co-payments or deductibles.

One of the major advantages of medical re-pricing is that you can get it even if you have pre-existing medical conditions. While every health insurance company on the planet will reject you if you have AIDS, cancer, asthma, multiple drug prescriptions or anything else, you can join medical re-pricing with any of these conditions.

People always ask me what happens if you have a major medical catastrophe and end up in the hospital after a car accident or heart attack. First of all, all your hospital bills are re-priced from 20% to 60% or more if you go to a member hospital. But it is also a good idea to get a high-deductible major medical policy along with your medical re-pricing membership. In my case, my policy kicks in after $5,000 in medical expenses per year per member of my family. That policy costs me $500 a month in New York, and much less in other states. So, I pay a total of $570 a month for my medical plans, instead of well over $1,200 that a traditional health insurance plan would cost. I am willing to cover re-priced medical expenses up to $5,000 and only want the insurance to kick in in case of disaster.

What is the downside of medical re-pricing? You have the pay the re-priced bills or you will lose your membership!

If you want to find out more about medical re-pricing, go to www.medicalrepricing.com, or call 800-915-5677. Someone will call you back and explain if it is right for you.

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