Minimal Essential Coverage Health Plans

[Doris]

I was wondering if anyone has been using a WellMEC plan while traveling. Any suggestions?

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the Escapee forums! I am not familiar with that plan but I do know that there are some members who use a health share plan, which seems to be similar to what Well MEC is. 

WELLMEC PLAN

Well-MEC plan benefits

Hopefully someone reading this thread will be able to be more helpful that I. 

[Doris]

Could you tell me more about these health share plans?

[Kirk W]

I have no experience with then but you can check them out using your favorite internet search engine. Maybe someone who does use one will read the thread and join in. 

The Pros and Cons of Healthcare Sharing Ministries

4 Key Differences Between Health Share Ministries and Health Insurance

What You Need To Know About Health Care Sharing Plans

Health Sharing Plans

Sidecar Health

Texas Health Insurance Plans and Healthshare Programs

Consumer Reports' Guide to Health Insurance

[TXiceman]

I remember as a kid and young adult, health insurance was such that you paid for all office visits and medicine up to a preset "deductible" amount.  Above this, the insurance kicked in and paid 80%  of you cost up to another preset limit.  Above this, the insurance picked up 100% of the cost.  The insurance was set up to pay on major issues and not so much for routine office visits.  But at the same time, an office was a lot cheaper.  Since then, medical cost have sky rocketed as have insurance premiums.  People now want everything paid for, so policies have gone this direction.

For the younger folks that are in good health, there are medical saving plans that make a lot of sense.  But for us older folks, we are left with Medicare and high cost supplements so that we can control our money and and not go totally broke due to a high cost medical emergency.

Ken

 

[Blues]

On 9/16/2021 at 1:40 PM, Doris said:

I was wondering if anyone has been using a WellMEC plan while traveling. Any suggestions?

Why are you looking at this plan?  Do you already have coverage for sickness and hospitalization, and are just wanting to have your preventive care doctor visits covered?

I ask because the WellMEC plan was concocted in order to avoid having to pay the penalty for not having health insurance.  This is how the Escapees communications director described WellMEC:

Quote

MEC stands for Minimum Essential Coverage. This phrase refers to a class of healthcare coverage that includes preventative care, basic wellness services, and a few other things, but NOT major medical coverage. Every plan I've seen out there (even outside of our own offerings) that includes "MEC" in the name is a minimum essential coverage plan. What that refers to is that MEC plans are enough coverage that you do not need to worry about the tax penalty that comes with not having health insurance. MEC plans meet the minimum essential coverage rules set out in the Affordable Care Act, so their members/patients are exempted from the penalty.

But now, there is no longer a penalty imposed on individuals for not having insurance, so what is the benefit of this plan?  Most people want insurance that will protect them from financial disaster resulting from hospitalization for an accident or illness, and many traveling fulltimers say they're willing to pay cash for routine preventative care as they travel.  If someone has only the WellMEC plan, they're getting the exact opposite--routine preventative care is covered, but anything relating to an illness or accident--the source of medical bankruptcies--is not.  I suppose it might be a supplement to hospitalization insurance, but any ACA-compliant plan will already include all of the preventive care, so I wonder where it would fit in now that there's no penalty to be avoided.

There's a previous thread about these plans.  It started as a discussion of an indemnity plan offered by FMCA, but includes a discussion of WellMEC (this is where the quote above is from):

https://www.rvnetwork.com/topic/131591-fmca-ppo-plan/?do=findComment&comment=950300