Two Approaches to Insurance Consulting

Not all consultants use the same approach to serve a client’s needs. Consultants will typically take one of two basic approaches when they work with clients:

Consultants as Experts – Many think of consultants as experts. A medical doctor is an “expert” – you explain your symptoms to a doctor, who in turn asks you a few important questions and then tells you what you need to do to get better. This situation is not too different in a business context. The obvious advantage of hiring an expert is that they have knowledge that is not available within the client organization.  One potential problem with hiring an expert is that the expert may not fully appreciate the nature of the client’s business and may recommend actions that cannot or do not address the problem the consultant was hired to solve. Alternately, a client may end up with some wonderful recommendations but be unable to implement any of them because of the unique politics or culture of the company.

Consultants as Facilitators – under this approach the consulant simply assists the client in going through the steps necessary to solve a problem. The consultant “oversees” the project while staff of the client does most of the work. The consultant does not implement changes, take actions, and does not tell the client what solution is best under the circumstances. Instead, the consultant assists the client in defining the problem, analyzing the situation, evaluating possible solutions, and deciding on the best solution and the best way to implement the option choosen. One problem using this approach is that the client group may not be capable of making tough decisions. Many times, the aim is to accomodate all the participant’s view-points and to keep peace in the company. As a consequence, although a consensus may be achieved, it may be at the cost of making the best decision.

Sometimes we get a call into our office, a referral, seeking our services as a consultant. Almost immediately the question is posed: “How much do you charge”? The biggest mistake we have made is to give out a pricing range, without first interviewing the potential client to determine expectations, needs and outcomes. Every consulting job is different and unique.

Medical Tourism – Interesting Facts to Consider

An excerpt from www.freehealth.com :                            

“We are in a sad state.  There are Americans who need life saving surgical procedures each day who simply cannot afford it, do not qualify for state or federal aid, do not know of any other options and die each day because of lack of access to healthcare.  No one talks about this “tragedy” that happens on a daily basis in America, as doctors, hospitals, and the government turn their back on millions of Americans.  Even more Americans don’t take necessary prescription drugs simply because they are unaffordable.    ” Our American health care system is broken leaving many Americans with no access to health care.”
That is why it is so shocking to Americans that they can jump onto an airplane fly several hours outside of American Airspace, and wherever they land the price of surgery and prescription drugs are as much as 50% to 90% less than in America.   Does that make sense?   That a prescription drug costing $150 costs $15 outside of the US, or a injectible prescription drug that costs $1,800 costs $900 outside the United States.  The exact same drug by the same drug manufacturer?  Is the drug subsidized by the foreign government?  No!

So, the next question the uninsured asks is what does the hospital look like and what experience do the doctors have.   We have to ask that question because how would it be possibly to provide equal to or better care in a hospital for 90% less than in America.  If a heart procedure that costs $100,000 could only cost $9,000 overseas than the hospital must be sub-standard compared to American hospitals, and the doctors less experienced than American doctors.   Over 500,000 Americans who went overseas for surgical  procedures  in 2006 discovered that the hospitals were equal to or in some cases nicer than American hospitals.     Some American hospitals describe the hospitals as “7 Star” hospitals , nicer than a Ritz Carlton, and they come back and “rave” about the tremendous experience of the doctors and how some were trained in the US or UK.”

“Did you know that 25% of doctors practicing in the U.S. were trained overseas?”
Do you know that the U.S. was rated 37th on the World Health Organization’s Health Report and that the U.S. was beat out by Costa Rica and Columbia?

Editor’s Note: Free health? There is no such thing as free health anywhere. Someone pays for it. But, it is a catchy phrase and will peak one’s curiosity. So, we went to visit www.freehealth.com and reviewed the power point – free20health20powerpoint20presentation – sure enough, the program does cost something, seems to be about $8 per month.