BMach said:
Our plan doesn't have a deductible, just a max out of pocket per visit, And you don't have to involve the provider in anything. You simply pay cash for any services provided and then you're reimbursed by the medishare. For example, when my son was born we received a $27k bill from the hospital, we called and got the cash price which was $2k (this is the real scam, all of these providers rip off the insurance companies, hence the high insurance premiums). We paid cash and then were reimbursed.
Had a girl that worked with me who had two medical bills that she was paying on. One of them started at around $3k, the other around $5k. She paid on them, $50 to $75 here and there, as she could afford to. Had been paying on them for a few years. One day she was at the hospital to make her payment and they had a new administrator who overheard her conversation with the hospital employee as to how much she had left to pay. Seems like combined it was $4k or so. He pipes up that if she could pay $700 or $800, they would forgive the rest. She didn't have that amount of money available so said she would be back, came and borrowed it from me, and paid them. I thought it was crazy since they were getting every dime they were owed, but in payments.
A guy who was doing my peer review was talking to me about the health insurance his CPA firm had versus what I had (not a part of the review of course). He said he was switching to get on his wife's plan, there was some snag, and was without insurance for a couple of months. During that time, his son broke his leg or tore ligaments or something playing sports, took him to the emergency room, they asked for his insurance card and he said he didn't have insurance. She said the bill was going to be $5,000 or $6,000 or so and asked how he intended to pay for it and he said with a check if that's ok. She then said in that case, it will be $1,500 or some much lower amount. It's all insane.
