Discount Health Company HealthAccess Works To Increase Membership Among Uninsured

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based HealthAccess, a company that provides discounts on medical services and targets uninsured and underinsured populations, recently joined forces with a California managed care company and an Alabama insurance distributor to expand its membership, the South Florida Business Journal reports. In 2000, about 3,000 residents of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in Florida were members of the company. Since then, the company's membership has grown to nearly 40,000 in those areas. HealthAccess, which was founded in 1995, does not provide traditional health insurance coverage but rather works with care providers to provide discounts of up to 80% on medical services. For example, a member would pay $50 for a mammogram that usually costs $200. To receive the discounts, members pay annual fees ranging from $95 per year for basic services to $70 per month for benefits including prescription drugs and dental, vision and chiropractic care. Children under age 18 are exempt from the membership fee. Members also pay participating providers up-front at rates negotiated by HealthAccess. With its recent partnerships with ppoNEXT, a California managed care company, and Protective Life Corp., an insurance administrator, the firm increased its provider base from 1,500 doctors in Florida to more than 375,000 nationwide, and the company anticipates the increased providers will "ope[n] the door to a new range of member services." HealthAccess President Carlos Herrera said, "We're bringing benefits to people who in the past didn't have the ability to get them. We see ourselves as the voice of the uninsured and the underinsured."

No Substitute for Insurance
HealthAccess is one of several companies offering discounts on medical services, but the firm "stands out" from the others because it "primarily targets the uninsured and underinsured markets," instead of focusing on providing services traditionally not covered by health plans, such as fertility treatments, to higher-income or insured populations, Jeff Zavada, vice president of sales for ppoNEXT, said. Some health care experts maintain that while such discount plans "aren't perfect," they do provide access to care for those who would otherwise go without medical services. Others health experts, however, say that such plans can cost members thousands of dollars if they become seriously ill. Santiago Leon, a group benefits specialist with ACC Insurance Brokers in Miami, said, "This is not a substitute for health insurance." He added, "The problems with some of these plans is that yes, you get some kind of discount that looks considerable. But if you have a serious problem, you could still be responsible for bills worth tens of thousands of dollars." HealthAccess encourages its members to purchase catastrophic health coverage from an insurer (Sayewitz, South Florida Business Journal, 2/15).