Affordable NY Health Insurance Coverage Through Crowdfunding

Affordable NY Health Insurance Plans That Aren’t Health Insurance: CrowdHealth

Considering how expensive health care can get in New York, many people look for health insurance plans to protect them from financial ruin. Unfortunately, many health insurance plans seem designed to offer minimal coverage with a high monthly premium. High deductibles mean that your plan won’t pay any of your medical bills until you’ve paid a fortune out of pocket, and co-payments ensure that you’re overcharged even after meeting them. You’re also limited to a prescribed network of care providers. If you want to change plans, you may have to wait for an open enrollment period. The entire health insurance system in New York is a nightmare!

Health insurance isn’t just awful for consumers though. Employers are frequently expected to provide insurance to everyone they hire, often at a cost that makes it difficult to add new team members. Even though most of these health insurance plans provide few benefits, workers have been conditioned to accept jobs and leave companies based on the benefits they get. Everybody is wasting money and small businesses are losing top talent to bigger firms that are better able to overpay for health insurance in New York. 

At CrowdHealth, we believe that the health insurance system itself is sick — and luckily we’ve created the cure. We’re not health insurance — we’re an alternative to health insurance, and our health plans are a total game-changer for NY residents who just want to find affordable health insurance. Our plans don’t have huge monthly premiums or deductibles, don’t try to limit which doctor patients see, and don’t ask New Yorkers to foot huge medical bills. Instead, we leverage a vibrant community of active Members to negotiate health care expenses and tackle big bills as a group. Please continue reading to find out more about how CrowdHealth is disrupting New York health insurance!

What does the typical health insurance plan cost in NY?

Multiple factors play a role in determining what an individual pays for health insurance coverage in New York including whether they use tobacco, their age, any preexisting medical conditions, and if their family also needs insurance. That said, the price of health insurance in NY state comes in at $592 per month against a national average of $438. It’s no wonder many New York residents hope to find more affordable options. 

Of course, monthly premiums alone don’t tell the whole story. The average American male in good health has a $4,500 deductible on his policy, a figure that can be difficult to work around. Co-pays can also make medical care very costly even when deductibles are met, especially since consumers have to meet them all over again every year. =

How does low cost health coverage work in New York?

The CrowdHealth plan doesn’t include premiums, deductibles, physician networks, or anything else typically associated with the health insurance industry in New York. Our health plans emphasize reducing cost and working together to help Community Members instead. Here is how the coverage we provide works:

First, new Members are asked to make a monthly contribution to our service. Unlike costly premiums, this small payment covers our administrative costs ($30 per month) and then the rest is placed in a savings account for the individual. Money in your account is still yours and you can use it to pay a hospital bill in NYC or get yourself any medical care you need. Should you ever decide to leave CrowdHealth, your money is refunded to you minus a small fee. You can also use your funds to help other Members pay for care at your discretion to improve your generosity score. 

The next step is visiting the New York physician of your choice. Unlike plans that try to tell you which doctors to see, you can choose anybody with CrowdHealth. At the conclusion of your visit, ask for the cash cost. Doctors don’t always publish their cash rates, but they all have them. Furthermore, medical professionals love getting paid in cash because it means they don’t need to fight with a health insurance company over prior authorizations or wait four months to get paid. Cash payments also let doctors save on administration costs. 

If the total cost is $500 or less, you pay the bill. If your bill is more than $500, you make a $500 payment and submit a funding request to CrowdHealth for the rest. Submitting a claim is as easy as downloading our mobile app, taking a few photos, and clicking a confirmation button. What other insurance company makes the process so easy?

CrowdHealth facilitates every funding request we receive, so other Members will see your bill and be able to transfer funds directly to your individual account to help you pay it. Our expert negotiators will also try to reduce the cost and spread it out over a payment plan lasting up to 36 months, a process that makes health care much more affordable for our community. 

For instance, let’s say that you were treated for myocardial infarction in a New York hospital and received a bill for $500,000. Yikes! Our negotiators can bring the total cost down by 30-60 percent, so that $500,000 bill becomes more like $240,000. Then, we’ll negotiate a 24-month repayment plan so that 5,000 Members only have to pay $2 a month to cover the bill. That’s how our health plans work for New York consumers. 

Is the coverage you provide more affordable than health insurance in New York?

Our health plans use flat-rate pricing to make it easy to understand what you’ll pay. People between the ages of 0 and 54 pay $175 per month. Members never pay more than $500 out of pocket for each medical event, and there is no cap on how much help you can ask the community for. 

In contrast, health insurance plans in New York often have high premiums that are never refunded to you under any circumstances. Deductibles are almost always above $500, and co-pays can add up as well. All told, our health coverage is much cheaper than anything you might find on a marketplace even for low-income households that might qualify for a subsidy.

I’m an employer. Can I offer your health coverage plan to my employees?

Employers started offering health insurance to employees during World War II as an added benefit when wages were frozen, and modern firms struggle to attract talent without a robust benefits plan. Unfortunately, the cost of this legacy benefit has increased by 252% since 1999 according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Small businesses cannot afford that, especially when larger companies can pay more for plans that sound more enticing to prospective hires. 

Choosing CrowdHealth as your company’s health care facilitator provides many benefits to your organization. CrowdHealth doesn’t have big local networks, allowing employees to seek care anywhere they need it. Our rates are steady, providing cost certainty. Instead of going through insurance brokers and wasting tons of time thinking about benefits instead of your core business, you can give workers a cash stipend to show you care about their health while focusing on what’s truly important. 

For example, let’s say your competitors are paying $537 per month per employee in monthly premiums for New York health insurance. If you offer a $250 cash stipend instead, you’re saving more than 50 percent while also giving your people more control over their health. 

What types of care do you cover in NY?

Every CrowdHealth plan includes unlimited access to talk therapy sessions and virtual health visits, giving consumers more control over when and how they receive treatment. Furthermore, all telemedicine visits will include a licensed medical professional in New York who can write a prescription if necessary. 

Speaking of prescriptions, CrowdHealth has partnered with a discount pharmacy to give our Members up to 60% off the price of retail drugs. While our plan does not cover the cost of long-term prescription drugs (defined as 120 days or more), you can still use our pharmacy partner to fill your prescriptions more affordably. 

CrowdHealth provides personal care advocacy as well including a dedicated Care Advocate who can help them navigate the complexities of healthcare resources and find a fantastic fit for their needs. We treat each Member as an individual, not patient 29 of 598,028.

Does CrowdHealth provide health insurance plans in New York?

CrowdHealth makes no guarantee that medical bills will be paid, so we technically don’t qualify as health insurance in New York or anywhere else. We know that sounds a little shady, but we think it gives us a competitive advantage over other health insurers in NY. 

The Affordable Care Act capped how much money insurance companies can make on monthly premiums at 15 percent and we’re sure they had the best of intentions. Unfortunately, capping profits at a percentage incentivizes health insurance companies to increase their premiums as often as possible to make more money. If you pay $1,000, they can make $150 off you per month. If they increase your premium to $1,100, they can make $165. 

Furthermore, health insurance companies frequently market their plans on the size of the network they’ve created. They could lose customers if they lose providers, giving them every incentive to capitulate whenever a provider asks for more money to keep them in the fold. Worse, they can then use the higher price points to justify raising premiums, making health care in New York even more expensive. 

CrowdHealth only increases revenues through enrollment and negotiating better deals for our Members, so we don’t have the same incentive to raise prices that health insurance companies do. We also question the value of any guarantee when the Kaiser Family Foundation found that nearly 20 percent of claims submitted on plans purchased through New York’s health insurance marketplace were denied. 

This sounds so much better than traditional health insurance. What am I missing?

The standard health insurance contract in NY includes so many clauses and exclusions that you frequently don’t learn the ins and outs until it’s too late. CrowdHealth plans have some limitations as well, but we’re upfront with them to help people make an informed decision. We also hope to eliminate many of the restrictions our plans have in the future. Let’s take a closer look at some of the limitations of our policies:

  • Who is eligible for our plan?

Currently, enrollment in our health plans is open to the vast majority of healthy individuals aged 64 and below. If you maintain a healthy weight and take care of your health by avoiding obvious risks like tobacco, you’re likely to qualify for membership and save tons of money on your medical bills. Our family plans are a great way for groups to get significant discounts as well, so consider signing your whole household up.

  • What about preexisting health conditions?

We will happily offer enrollment to an individual in New York with preexisting health conditions, but funding for care related to those conditions will be subject to a strict maximum. Members aren’t eligible for any funding related to their condition(s) in the first year, up to $25,000 in the second year, $50,000 in the third year, and $100,000 in the fourth year and thereafter. Short term prescriptions are always covered but count toward these maximums. 

  • FSA/HSA accounts

If an individual has a Flexible Savings Account (FSA) or Health Savings Account (HSA), they will not be able to use it for their monthly contribution to CrowdHealth. However, they can use it for their up to $500 per visit payments or any care they or their family might need that doesn’t involve CrowdHealth. 

The final verdict: An affordable health insurance alternative in New York

Health insurance is expensive for both consumers and employers in New York, often prohibitively so. If you believe an individual should be forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars just to stay healthy, CrowdHealth isn’t for you. If you want to protect your family from unexpected health care costs, our innovative crowdfunding alternative to health insurance could be just what you were hoping for. 

We would love to help you find the resources you need to make an informed decision regarding your health, so contact us to discover more about CrowdHealth and our plans! We look forward to working with you.

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CrowdHealth vs "Affordable" Insurance

CrowdHealth is not insurance. We are a completely new and innovative solution to paying for healthcare. We value community and transparency over profit. Can your insurance company make that claim?

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