The fact is we need to either ask the office manager, the plan administrator, the network provider, or the doctor how much it is for a particular health service. The reason is that prices for healthcare services are not easily accessible. They are difficult to compute, assess and manage. For this reason, we as consumers do not feel empowered to make good decisions with respect to our healthcare. The cards are stacked against us.
In recent times, it has come to light that many hospitals and providers charge special lower rates for services rendered to policy-holders of large insurance companies. Whereas, uninsured patients are charged the highest rates for the same services rendered. In addition, it is practically impossible to track and manage these costs. This is unfair and unjust.
Healthcare is not a transparent industry that caters to consumers. Most other industries that service consumers are focused on market conditions that drive their businesses. This means that promoting their prices is important. Imagine going to a gas station and not knowing how much they were charging for unleaded gasoline! Imagine attending a spa and just not knowing the cost of the services, but also later receiving the final bill that would be impossible to understand and that it would include items and services that you did not feel you received! There are not many businesses that could survive with this strategy.
As consumers, we are very disconnected from the healthcare services and costs that we receive. This is not a good model that entices good consumerism. Due to the fact that we are removed from the process of acting like a consumer, it is then easier to understand why we are not as focused on the costs. Yet, we complain and scream at our rising health insurance premiums. The truth is that it is not entirely our fault. We want to be better consumers, but the system doesn't work to assist us. It is common practice to keep prices confusing to consumers and not to promote them.
All of us understand that healthcare is complex and includes many, many different goods and services, but it is definitely not as difficult as it is represented. American consumers are smart, intelligent, and able to make decisions with respect to their healthcare while also assessing a provider's economic value for their goods and services. It is paramount that consumers are brought back into the healthcare model; they will drive up competition and quality service.
Like most of every other industry in the United States, pricing is an important gauge for goods and services. It is not acceptable that the healthcare industry does not provide its prices for goods and services to the users of those goods and services on a more formal and easier basis. As our healthcare industry matures, this will be a reform change that will come to the front of issues being raised.
As more and more health insurance plan designs incorporate consumer risk through high-deductible and health savings accounts, consumers will demand more transparency from their providers. It is only fair; it is only the right thing to do. There is no need to keep prices and costs behind locked doors where only a select group has readable access.
One may ask why government run businesses do not work, and they only need to look at our Medicare and Medicaid programs. In these cases, the consumer again has been removed from the equation therefore there are no checks and balances to guide the ship.
Occupation: Founder
The son of Cuban immigrants, Rene Luis was born in Puerto Rico in 1965. The oldest of seven children, he moved to Miami, Florida along with his family in 1974.
From an early age, Rene’s intellectual curiosity was apparent. As a child, Rene was always looking for answers to difficult questions. At the age of six, his father gave him a magnet set that he spent countless hours with, creating magnet-powered toy cars. Although life took him in a different direction, his desire as a child was always to be a scientist.
Early in college, Rene began creating small businesses out of his ideas, one of which was a manufacturing company for products that he himself invented, designed, and marketed. One such product was a shoe gadget that he marketed to children and athletes. An accounting major in college, the business was so successful that he considered leaving school and concentrating full-time on the company. After much thought, he decided to continue his education, rationalizing that his inventions would way until he finished college with a Bachelors in Accounting.
With a father and grandfather that both studied economics and accounting, Rene redevoted himself to his studies, and took great pride in his work. Although he decided to focus on his university career, the entrepreneurial bug apparent since childhood would serve him well later in life.
Once out of college, Rene went to work with a small accounting firm that specialized in forensic accounting. Formed by the previous partners of some of the biggest accounting firms in the country, Rene had the opportunity to work and learn from seasoned veterans, an experience he found at once challenging and rewarding.
After 4 years, Rene left to pursue new challenges at a larger accounting firm. It was there that he began to consult in healthcare and became immersed in researching the industry and gaining the knowledge that would later serve him at VitalOne.
As he researched health insurance and the industry, he became interested in how coverage reaches some, and fails to reach others. He worked to understand why insurance is needed and became a strong believer that consumers could be savvier about their healthcare if they approached it as they do every other industry. Fair market value is a common consideration in most industries, it should be no different when shopping for health insurance.
During that time, he also began to see how difficult it was for individuals and families to find affordable health insurance on their own. Whereas this type of information was readily available to businesses and corporations, it was not available to the individual and family. The time and effort weren’t invested to service this demographic. This, he thought, was not a problem, but an opportunity.
That is why VitalOne Health was created, to help consumers navigate the transition that is currently taking place from employer-based health coverage to individual coverage.
At VitalOne Health, Rene’s sole passion is to provide healthcare for everyone. Through education and consultation, VitalOne’s focus is to help consumers attain the health insurance coverage that is right for them.
Rene has now been working in health care for over fifteen years. His intention in forming VitalOne was to be able to better serve a growing market of individuals and families that have truly been underserved until now.
According to Rene, “Our opportunity is to better serve you honestly and effectively. Ultimately, we believe that the role of a health insurance agent will be ever more important in the future. Yet, with all of the technology and product offerings that we present, we must first earn each and every member’s trust and confidence.”
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