Since 1998, my general agency has actively assisted health insurance agents in the implementation of hundreds of group limited medical plans aka “mini meds." I’d like to weigh in on the present and future role of these plans and cut through some mythology, confusion and outright distortions surrounding them. The group limited medical plan industry encompasses a number of very different plans and carriers. These plans provide core medical insurance to a broad range of consumers.

The potential member’s perception of value and interest in enrolling in a limited medical plan depends on a number of factors, notably:

• The ability to afford your health plan (high premium share)
• The ability to afford family inclusion in your group plan (premium share)
• The ability to afford to actually use your health plan (high deductibles)
• Amount employer pays towards premium
• Amount of acceptable out of pocket risk
• Access to first-dollar benefits
• Length of probationary period (new hires)
• Insured’s likelihood of illness or injury (preexisting condition)
• Availability of supplemental benefits (cancer, LTC, CI)
• Existence of financial barriers that may discourage access to health care

Our firm has operated in this professional space for more than 14 years. In that time, we’ve seen a slow but growing willingness by workers to “trade off” catastrophic protection in exchange for access to first-dollar benefits. Although it is demonstrably true that many employees confuse limited medical plans with more traditional major medical insurance, when these plans are adequately explained and workers understand the risks and rewards (access in exchange for risk) the majority will take the limited medical option and fully understand it’s limitations.

From our own experience, most CEOs, CFOs, HR managers and brokers have an opposite view of what employees and their families actually desire. We attribute this disconnect to a tendency for all of us to apply our own perspective (lost in our own selfish view) to those we think we serve.