Health savings plans, or medical discount plans, are much less expensive than health insurance, but they do not provide any of the protections of a health insurance policy. Instead, they simply give members a discount on medical services. Discount health care programs are not insurance. The discount programs typically sell cards that provide members with discounts for health care services from participating physicians and providers. The program member is responsible for paying the full discounted cost of the medical treatment. The programs can provide a value to consumers who do not have health insurance by helping to reduce the out-of-pocket cost of health care. Discount health care programs are required to be registered to sell their programs in the state. Consumers should also make sure their doctors, dentists, and other health care providers accept the program and offer discounts before buying a discount health care program.

 

The discounts are not guaranteed and can vary significantly depending on the provider and the treatment involved.  There is no cap on out-of-pocket costs with a discount plan, and they are not regulated by the ACA; regulation is left to the states instead. Discount plans are not suitable to be a person’s only medical coverage, and they aren’t really necessary if you have major medical health insurance, as one of the benefits of health insurance is the discount resulting from the network negotiated rates with providers. A dental/vision discount card can still be very useful in addition to having regular major medical health insurance, however, as dental and vision services are rarely covered by health insurance plans.

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Discount health plans are especially helpful to members who wish to receive savings on multiple ancillary health services, such as chiropractic, hearing, vision, dental, prescriptions, weight management and other types of health related products. Some discount health plans also include a no consult fee telemedicine service. You and your family can enjoy access to a wide variety of discounts, products and services at affordable plan rates with reputable discount health plan organizations.