Why you could save money by not using your health insurance for an urgent care visit

READ TO THE BOTTOM!

You pay a certain amount each month for health insurance hoping in the end, it will save you money on your health care. In this 11 Listens, one man ended up paying more for a visit to a walk-in clinic than if he didn't use his insurance.

"I mean is this legal? I don’t know," said Jon Luke Hendricks.
Hendricks went to Excel Health in Haskell for his son's ear infection.

"We processed our insurance without any questions," said Hendricks.

He got the bill. $150 dollar for the office visit, plus $50 for a flu test. Because of his in-network discount, he was left with $110 bill. He didn't question it until he heard another patient only paid $75 for their entire visit.

He called the clinic and found out their walk-in fee without insurance was $75, but because he used insurance, he was charged $35 dollars more than that.

"It’s sad that I’m paying a large portion of my check for insurance and yet I have to pay more to process insurance," said Hendricks.

So we called around and found out most urgent cares or walk-in clinics will offer a discount base fee for paying up front. Excel health charges $75. MedExpress charges $119. Central Arkansas Urgent Care charges $110. These prices are often half of what someone with insurance will be billed. Keep in mind if you use the self-pay rate, it won’t go towards your deductible.

"I just feel like people should know you might have a better option. If your deductible is high, you may be better off paying up front,” said Hendricks.

You can read the rest of this article at this CBS affiliate in Arkansas. But before you do, let me interject.

With our Expected Benefits Plan, you can elect to pay cash anywhere and then be reimbursed. For regular doctor visits, Level 2 will pay you $80 every time you go (up to 20 times per year). For a visit to a Walk-in Clinic or Urgent Care facility -- the kind of facility discussed in the above article, the insurance company will pay you $125. Do the math.

If the man in the article had our insurance, but paid cash for his $75 visit, after submitting his bill to the insurance company he would have pocketed $50.00!

More about our Expected Benefits Plan is here.

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