Medical Discount Cards: Riskier than health insurance?

http://conoutofconsumer.blogspot.com/search?q=medical+discount+cards reports on medical discount cards. In this environment of let the buyer beware, there are many scams involving medical discount cards usually revolving around the list of providers who accept the card. You can read another note on the scam aspect of medical discount cards at http://www.insurancefraud.org/discount_health_plans.htm.

Considering the scams involving medical discount cards is a great way of understanding the current risk in our health services industry because it simplifies the problem. Medical discount cards are intended to collect monthly fees from consumers for the card that can be presented to medical services providers for a discount on medical services. Medical discount cards in conjunction with a separate hospitalization plan I believe will become more present as health insurance continues to cover less for more.

Sufficient Number of Providers who accept the Card: One of the "scams" pointed out is that the medical discount card company does not guarantee that providers will actually accept the discount. Is this a scam? Then it is interesting that in its promotion of PFFS programs, our government isn't pointing to the very same risk (see http://conoutofconsumer.blogspot.com/2007/12/pffs-plans-sound-good-think-again.html).
The situation brings up an important consumer stakeholder concern:
1) Requirement that any medical discount or health insurance plan maintain a legitimate number of participant providers in any region and that in the event of a lack of such provider population the plan will cover all non-provider expenses. This requirement can be done contractually or by government mandate. Since our federal government is opting out of the requirement that providers be participants in plans as evident with promotion of PFFS plans, this issue will be a hot button issue.

Fly by night companies offering card: What happens when your company disappears? This issue is meaningful in the insurance field as well. One of the solutions to such a situation could be a Federal Insurance program such as that which makes banks FDIC insured. Consumers haven't begun to experience this event and with the marketing of long-term care insurance where premiums will be paid without any reason to use the policy for years to come, the problem will emerge much more often than it has up until now.
2) Without an insurance policy for the companies similar to the FDIC guaranteeing your coverage, current health insurers are also a risk. With the medical discount card, contractual terms of one year with monthly payments should provide protection to consumers, if the company disappears you stop paying and find another offerer of a discount card.

Non-coverage of many providers and services
This problem too exists with our insurance companies. Every list of non-coverage, reduced coverage, exclusions, is non coverage. Currently, most of us don't know we weren't covered until we try to get assistance from our insurance company for payment for needed medical services.
3) The cards should provide by category who their participants are, this will give a clear indication as to the number of doctors in a region, dentists, and others who accept the card. Note that right now, even if our doctors accept our insurance that their contracts with our insurers do not coincide with ours and that mid-policy we could find ourselves without our participating provider. Meaning that the risk here is the same.

Key for consumers is that the cards don't give enough of a discount to make the out of pocket expense reasonable for consumers. This indicates the same problem we currently have with insurance and we are not making progress...we are getting less insurance coverage for higher expenses. Like the high deductible plans, or health savings accounts, consumers are being asked to foot their own medical bills.
4) The medical discount card is the purest form of this trend because we pay for everything out of pocket but get a discount off the price. At least we won't be paying enormous premiums and have to jump through hoops to get the price!

The Medical discount card is a step backwards because it essentially says you pay for your own health care but we'll give you a card for a fee that will get you a few bucks off if you use our participants. However, health insurers are going backwards as well but are charging more for their service. If we're being empowered to pay our own bills, don't distract us with the vacation club plan of Health Savings Accounts where we put pre-tax dollars into an account to pay for our own medical services (and we forfeit our own money if we don't use it all) or high deductible plans where we try to gauge our own risk of illness in order to save a few bucks. The best solution is national health insurance but until that time, if we're moving backwards, the medical discount card is a purist's choice for going backwards.

The statement nobody will make is that the current trend is that if you are sick you are likely to be bankrupted whether you are insured or not. That's the statement nobody will make because it shows a harsh, backwards, sentiment that has lined the pockets of greedy medical services providers and health insurance companies.