In case you've been living on Mars for the last several months, the nation is in the midst of an intense debate over healthcare. Sick of it yet (no pun intended)? Well, a Mesa man claims to have the solution: Don't bother getting health insurance at all.
Chad Harris, chief executive officer for Mesa-based No Insurance Club, says that his company holds the solution for healthcare in this country; paying for a certain amount of care upfront.
"What spawned it was people wanted to have a fixed price for a certain basket of visits -- once a month, say -- and certain baskets of services -- like strep, EKG, cholesterol, physicals -- all bundled for one price per year," Harris says.
Harris says annual "packages" offered by the clinic are often less expensive than a monthly insurance premium, and that there are no co-pays or deductibles.
The plan actually is pretty inexpensive. An individual only pays $480 a year for 12 visits, and families pay $680 for 16 visits. The package includes immunizations and blood work, and offers prescriptions through a contract with Pharmalink for less than $4.
The "No Insurance Club" Web site actually makes it seem more like you're buying car insurance than medical coverage, and uses the slogan: "No co-pays, no deductibles, no premiums. Pre-existing condition? NO PROBLEM!"
Hard to believe: a doctor who sees terminal cancer as "no problem!"
Unfortunately for Harris, he's too late. We already have a "No Insurance Club" in America; It consists of roughly 20 percent of the population.
