Best Affordable Healthcare Options
For most people, the government Health Insurance plans are not actually affordable. And if you are lucky enough to have an employer pay for some of your Health Insurance, you know that paying half of $1600 Health Insurance policy is still a lot of money to pay for your healthcare each month.
But before you get sad about the cost of healthcare, it’s important to know that you do have a few really great options to choose from.
Telemedicine
From the comfort of your home, you can have 24/7 access to a Doctor or healthcare provider through telemedicine services, such as Teledoc. By utilizing telemedicine services for non life-threatening situations, you can potentially save hundred of dollars (or more).
Direct Primary Care
If you haven’t yet heard of Direct Primary Care (or DPC for short), then you are in for a real treat. It’s a monthly membership model to see your Doctor or healthcare provider. Think of it like Netflix, only better.
Direct Primary Care members will pay a small monthly fee and have access to their Doctor whenever they need it. While every Direct Primary Care Doctor will run things a little different, they generally will allow for same or next-day appointments that lasts for as long as the patient needs (usually an hour rather than the usual 7-15 minutes with a doctor).
Direct Primary Care is mostly for the less severe medical needs, such as annual wellness exams, sick visits, stitches, broken bones, weight management, etc. This usually accounts for about 80-90% of most people’s medical needs.
Direct Primary Care truly is a more personal healthcare experience. Also, there is usually no Health Insurance, service fees, or third-party billing involved. It’s a win-win for everyone except for the Insurance companies.
Health Share Plans
If you are looking for an alternative to Health Insurance, I highly recommend looking into joining a Health Share. A Health Share plan is for the large and unexpected medical needs that may come.
Most people don’t consider a Health Share plan because most have religious restrictions. In the last eight years, there have been a few new Health Share organizations that do not require any religious affiliation to join, which makes Health Sharing much more accessible to people of all backgrounds. These health share communities accept people of all faiths and have a community of people who want to live a healthy life and share in medical bills together.
My family made the switch from Health Insurance to a Health Share plan and we couldn’t be happier! When we call our Health Share, a human answers the phone. We get a caring individual to discuss our questions or needs and helps us with every step of the process. We have access to telemedicine, prescription discounts, annual wellness visits (with no network restrictions). Of course, we have some peace of mind if we ever end up with a large medical bill.
If you’d like to know which Health Share we joined (no religious requirements), I highly recommend reading this post about the Best Health Share Plans for Individuals and Families to learn more about what’s included.