Don't be duped by fake health discount plans

Television ads promote health discount plans in a duplicitous way to make them sound like insurance, but in reality, they're no more than a discount off the bill if you go to a member provider. You could still be stuck with thousands of dollars in health costs.

Unfortunately, Mary Lloyd found out the hard way when she and her husband signed up for a plan from Cinergy Health after seeing an ad that she could get health coverage for as little as $5 a day. She checked it out because her husband was set to retire, and health insurance was going to cost them $1,200 a month to continue his coverage. She got a quote for one plan that sounded good at $588, but was switched to a cheaper plan during the sales process when she did not get acceptance from the higher-priced plan. The key problem: The higher priced plan was true insurance, while the lower priced plan turned out to be a discount card.