Is it feasible to find 100 families to put $100 a month in a savings account to pay for medical expenses?

Question

Its just an idea I had, wondered if it would work, if its legal, etc. My family has no health insurance, and I am sure that there are many other families out there in the same boat. We have no major medical issues, just checkups, physicals, dentist visits, etc. And I would like to have something to fall back on just in case of an accident or catastrophic illness. I know there would be obstacles, who would run it, how to pay the bills, who to let in, how to find replacements, but if it worked.....

Answer 1

Terrible idea. That money would be gone in less than a week. There are no controls, and you'd be paying for someone else's kids braces or some middle aged woman's boob job. Or you could get lawyers, they are well-known for keeping down the cost of health care.

Answer 2

Sounds like you want to start your own insurance company and invite a few healthy people to join. I think the insurance regulators in your state would frown on this. They are responsible that insurance companies have the resources to pay claims, and I don't think you would pass their test. Do you really think that $10,000 per month is enoughto insure 100 families?

What would happen if, on the way to a meeting of your insurance company, there was a car accident, involving 3 families. You've been collecting money for about 6 months, but you've paid out about $5000 in claims, so you have a balance of $55000 plus a little interest. Do you think you can pay for the claims of the 3 families involved in the accident?

Who decides what benefits to pay for. You mentioned physicals, dental visits, etc. Will you offer free preventive care? Will you offer vision care? How about Orthodontia? How do you know what the cost of these things are? How can you know how much you'll be paying out for each family?

That's why insurance companies exist, because they know what these things cost because they have networks. They have claims experience that Actuaries go through to determine what the average family of 4 will cost for a year.

Just because you don't have insurance now, doesn't mean that you can't get it. Talk to a local agent about a Health Savings Account plan. You can purchase it for less than the traditional HMO plan, plus it will give you an opportunity to put money away on a tax-advantaged basis to deal with medical bills as they arise.

Answer 3

sure, you can do it, it's a risk sharing thing . . the biggest problem is, how do you make sure all the families are reasonably healthy? And the second biggest thing is, what if one person has a catastrophic issue, like a preemie baby? That can eat up $40,000 a day in extreme care . ..

Your biggest risk is running out of money - so the first person who puts in the big claim gets paid, and everyone else is SOL.

Answer 4

Do it provided that it is going to save your credit or stay away from paying interest or different series rates and it will make you debt loose which ability you is only no longer making from now on money on the debt and consequently would be waiting to pay him back. Then positioned it back interior a similar way you will possibly have paid the scientific expenses, at the same time with in case you ought to in basic terms arise with the money for $5 or $10 a month. on the final fee, upload $2 to catch up on his lost interest earnings. it incredibly is greater advantageous to pay him the interest than a credit card corporation or different corporation and that would make it honest to him.

Answer 5

That's actually not a bad idea. In fact it's called an HMO. Many payers in and hopefully fewer takers out. However with today's medical costs you probably need at least 3,000 in-payers for every out-taker thus the ratio. HMO's have 100's of thousands of clients to provide the economy of scale you describe. Look into the cost of cancer treatment for 1 individual and you'll see the dilemma. Good luck to you in your quest. Health care is quite a problematic arena for most of us ordinary folks.

Answer 6

Insurance companies hire actuaries, investment managers, underwriters, claimspeople, accountants, lawyers, programmers, etc. to make sure such schemes work.

Answer 7

forget that. Just move to Canada and get it for free.

Answer 8

It won't work, plain and simple.