Triangle Medsaver Corp.
Demonstrating Free Market Solutions
for Health Care Access & Affordability
In North Carolina
Cash agreements between physicians & patients. Physicians are willing to give preferred charges to patients who will pay at the time of service and not require the unnecessary intervention of the third party payers. With the rise of third party payment systems for health care, the simplicity, fairness & efficiency of direct cash transactions has been almost forgotten. Managed care and government programs taking over the financing of even routine health services have added an average of 30% to the physician overhead costs. Along with the extra costs of the third party payments systems has come a loss of freedom for doctors & patients. Millions of dollars are being spent as state & federal governments try to find solutions to their "solutions" of the previous decades. Yet routine medical care, especially without the overhead, is still within the budget of most citizens. Preferred pricing for cash programs are sprouting up around the Country. Triangle Medsaver is forming this alliance between physicians & citizens of North Carolina
Incentives for health. As long as most health financing is linked to employment or doled out through government assistance programs, the consumers of health care services are insulated from the true costs of their life style and health care choices. Managed care attempted to contain costs for the benefit of the third party payers but provided no real incentive to citizens to make healthy choices. Tax reforms that would encourage citizens to purchase high deductible catastrophic insurance and accumulate their own medical savings would promote healthier choices. When one has a personal fund to pay for routine medical, dental vision & other care, there is freedom & incentive to work with the doctor, comply with medical advice, make prudent treatment choices, and commit to therapeutic activities that will bring long term better health.
 
Affordable high deductible catastrophic insurance. True insurance should not pay for expected medical costs. The trends toward low deductible and first dollar coverage was largely driven by the tax laws favoring employer owned health financing mechanisms. When linked to their job, many people enjoy what they perceive to be nearly free health care through the low deductible managed care plans of their employer. The true cost is hidden in lower wages or higher product costs. Then if people choose to develop their own business or work for a small employer, they find that the "good old fashion insurance" is hardly available or sold at a very high cost. Triangle Medsaver is promoting the use and availability of high deductible insurance and tax credits or equitable treatment for large & small employer groups & individuals.
Health Savings Accounts. HSA’s have been a key ingredient of the free market solutions for health care access & affordability. They allow for more equitable tax treatment of funds spent for health care; they provide the incentive for people to use medical care wisely, and they allow for rich & poor alike to accumulate a fund for personal health care needs.  See HealthCareFreedom.com
Need for local grass roots efforts: There are excellent free market solutions being demonstrated in different states. However the bulk of these solutions will not occur under current regulatory burdens. Many of these burdens were created by those under the impression that ultimately the government can and should make all our financial & medical decisions. The free market solutions will not be promoted by those who profit by acting as middle agents to health care transactions. It will take local alliances of citizens & physicians to encourage legislators and insurance companies to make some changes. Triangle Medsaver is a non-profit membership organization for North Carolina citizens. We invite you to join us in our efforts to see that we maintain and improve upon the best free market health care in the world.
New Access for the uninsured. With a network of physicians welcoming the cash paying patients, Triangle Medsaver hopes to encourage those who are uninsured to obtain a regular physician, solicit timely medical advice, and have access to advice as to whether or not a condition requires emergency room care.
Successful statewide programs for the uninsurable. ~2.5 million people (1% of the population) suffer from pre-existing medical conditions. Private insurers are ill-equipped to serve this population with affordable health insurance policies. In a number of states the burden of regulations created to serve this 1% fell upon the individual and small group market. The greater portion of insurance pools through the large employer groups were exempt from sharing these costs burdens. This disruption in the small group and individual markets has caused prices to rise among the groups least able to afford it, thus increasing the number of "insurable" uninsured. However, according to a recent study, 28 state governments played a positive role in serving this population by chartering nonprofit health insurance plans, or HIPs. They were authorized to impose a small assessment on premiums earned by all insurers. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance and other think tanks are promoting this model for the remaining states.  See NC Citizens for a Health Insurance Risk Pool