New Product for Group Health Cases!!

[TXINSURANCE]

CallMd is $19.95/mo and also has fringe benefits of various discounts. $30 is not a good price point. Sorry.

And yes I contract people for CallMd which can be sold to individuals or groups.

I just think $30 is steep...

 

[DBKuhnke]

CallMd is $19.95/mo and also has fringe benefits of various discounts. $30 is not a good price point. Sorry.

And yes I contract people for CallMd which can be sold to individuals or groups.

I just think $30 is steep...

You didn't read the small print on CallMD... The following is the line right under their pricing plans. "* Add $35 fee for each doctors consultation. Doctors consultation fees incurred during this period can not be refunded. CallMD and CallMD Ultimate are not health insurance products." With HealthNation there "can" be a $20 charge on individual plans, but there is no additional per call cost to the $29.95 per family on group written programs.

 

[0b1kanobee]

I have to laugh when agents say that they have the 'same product' which does this and that ect. ect. ect. YET when a prospect does this and they are NOT comparing apples to apples it upsets them so.

I've just been following this thread even though I'll probably never do anything with any of these type of products myself (doesn't mean I won't tell another agent about it) but I can tell that I'm one of the few who have even looked at this product you are telling other agents about.

 

[Rivers1]

Let's not forget that you're asking a customer for over $350/year to save a few copays if I'm understanding it correctly. Why wouldn't they just get an accident/critical illness plan instead?

BINGO! Thank you!

 

[0b1kanobee]

BINGO! Thank you!

I don't think this is because they should just get a critical illness product. I don't think you can do all of the things with this product that you can with a CI/accident product and the other way around as well. Two completely separate animals.

It's like certain credit cards have perks, some have none. With some you can have them call and make you a dinner reservation or book airfare. For the person to lazy to do it themselves or their time is too valuable, it is a nice perk. Others will see no value in it.

 

[Rivers1]

I don't think this is because they should just get a critical illness product. I don't think you can do all of the things with this product that you can with a CI/accident product and the other way around as well. Two completely separate animals.

See my posts near the end in this thread for clarification.
Has Anybody Used Telemedicine As an Alternative to Giving Copays?

Not pushing a product, just comparing benefits.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

You didn't read the small print on CallMD... The following is the line right under their pricing plans. "* Add $35 fee for each doctors consultation. Doctors consultation fees incurred during this period can not be refunded. CallMD and CallMD Ultimate are not health insurance products." With HealthNation there "can" be a $20 charge on individual plans, but there is no additional per call cost to the $29.95 per family on group written programs.

Your information is not accurate. (At least on the one I sell...)
Call MD provides 6 calls per individual or 12 calls per family.

In addition Call MD comes at NO charge on a VBA accident plan, which starts at $34.95/mo. You can buy Call MD stand alone for $19.95, or it comes with the accident plan starting at $34.95/mo - your choice.

I never said these products were identical, but they are similar (teledoc, discount programs, etc., etc.,)

 

[scagnt83]

This is not a "perk", it is an added expense for the employee.

A "perk" would be if it came free with their HI or some other insurance policy...


The big selling point is that I can call a doc out of state if need be and get a prescription..... but how would that doc be able to do a decent exam to be able to know if that prescription was warranted??

This is something that you might use once or twice in your life, and all to save you a bit of time or a co-pay.


I could see this as a free exec benefit in a carve out situation.... especially when Cadillac plans start to fall to the wayside..

But no way in hell I would try to mass market it to employees... that $300+ per month would be much better put to use on LI or DI (which most who will buy this product will not have enough of either)

 

[Ann H]

I don't see this product going anywhere for groups or individual/family plans. Initiation fee of $100, monthly fee of $30 ($40 for IFP), and $20 per consultation. Even for the group plan, which he says waives some of those fees, it doesn't make sense to me.

I've heard it said that claims can be divided into 3 categories - those who use $500 or less of medical expenses (a high number of us), those who use catastrophic amounts of medical services (a small number of people, but the dollar amount drives the premium sky high), and those who use a medium amount of $5,000 or less (very few). Let's look at this telemedicine thing for all 3 categories. Let's look at its function and at the math.

Is the $500 a year user going to benefit from this? No. Can the telemedicine doc do a routine physical, pap smear and mammogram? No, not even if any woman would allow it. The teledoc can't do preventive routine appointments. How about the common stuff like looking in a child's ears for ear infection? Nope, can't do that by phone or video conference. Functionally, this arrangement has very little benefit for the "under $500 a year" user. Mathematically, why would any family pay $360 to $480 a year (plus any initiation fee and consultation fees) to avoid a few copays?

Okay, how about the catastrophic level utilizer? Telemedicine chemotherapy anyone? Tele heart attack? This benefit is useless to them. If a cancer or heart patient called teledoc, that doc is going to tell him "get to the ER" no matter what the phone call is about. The teledoc won't want the liability. What function would telemedicine have for this type of patient? Mathematically, what would it save them, since they undoubtedly meet the deductible & out-of-pocket maximum anyway?

And lastly, the medium user. These usually entail a simple outpatient surgery and some advanced imaging before surgery is indicated - such as MRI, CT Scan, Colonoscopy, etc. Broken ankle, need an MRI and surgery. What good does a teledoc do? Do you stick your ankle up to the webcam so he can see if it's broken versus sprained? Intestinal problems, perhaps. Tele colonoscopy?? Really.... Let's say you're considering going to the ER, but you call a teledoc instead. What will he tell you? He'll probably say to go to the ER or urgent care.

Lastly, isn't "call a nurse" pretty much standard (and FREE) on most health plans? What does "call a doctor" really do that "call a nurse" doesn't do, except prescribe medicine?

 

[easy8521]

Very Good Info, thanks...