What we normally suggest is purchasing a health insurance with a higher deductible than what you may be used to and coupling that with an accidental injury policy and a critical illness policy.
Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re a family of four (35M, 35F, 4F, 2M in Houston zip code 77027 effective 1/1/12) interested in purchasing the Humana CoPay 80 $1,000 plan at $913/month. This plan carries $3,000 of total major medial risk including the deductible along with having unlimited doctor copays, excellent prescription coverage and free preventive care.
We need to let you know that there are 3 major risks associated with medical bills 1) Accidental injury 2) Critical Illness (heart attack, cancer, etc.) and 3) medical issues that are neither accidental or critical such as a surgery for appendicitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.
Rather than purchase the above plan at $913/month with $3,000 of total risk on each category, consider this option: The same plan with Humana, but with a $2,500 deductible is priced at $632/month. This plan carries $5,000 total risk in each category. We add to that a $5,000 benefit accidental injury plan at $39.95/month and a $5,000 critical illness cash plan at $9.76/month. These two supplemental products will pay the first $5,000 of any expenses (after a $100 deductible) in either the accidental injury or critical illness categories.
The net result is that you will save $231.29/month (that’s almost $2,800 per year!) and reduce your total accidental and critical illness risk to $100. Your risk on non accidental/critical will increase by $1,500, but you’re saving $2,800 per year on premiums along with taking almost no risk on accidents and critical injuries.
This concept is almost a no brainer and works just as well with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and traditional PPO copay plans. If you agree, just call www.selectedbenefits.com at 866.270.6209 and we’ll be happy to implement this strategy for your family.