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TRUCKERS SHOULDN’T HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FUEL & HEALTH INSURANCE
By David Lindsey - Founder and CEO of USNow

The financial constraints on truckers have seldom been tougher than they are today. Drivers must flinch when they pull into a gas station and find out what percentage of their hard earned wages will go into the next fill up. The skyrocketing price of diesel fuel, constantly increasing costs for maintenance of their equipment and ever-changing federal guidelines make life particularly challenging for truckers. Adding to the problem is the simple fact that most, if not all, of these costs are not optional; they are realities that must be absorbed as a cost of doing business in today’s trucking industry.

No wonder so many drivers have made their personal health secondary to maintaining the financial health of their businesses and their families. With the cost of health insurance climbing almost as fast as fuel prices, many truckers are on the road today with little or no coverage for illness or injury. Yet, ironically, these are the very people who can least afford to take this kind of risk. Workers in the trucking industry are more prone to illness due to the stress of the job and irregular hours. And without medical insurance, drivers often put off seeing a doctor until it’s too late to detect a serious ailment and treat it.

This doesn’t have to happen. For a growing number of trucking companies and drivers, the answer to this looming crisis in healthcare has become managed limited benefit plans. These plans came into being more than a decade ago and are a viable alternative to expensive comprehensive medical coverage where applicants are required to take physical exams and can be turned down for pre-existing medical conditions. And even when accepted, their pre-existing medical conditions are often “ridered” for a specified period of time, further restricting their healthcare needs.

I recognized the need for an alternative to these costly “traditional” healthcare plans in the mid-1990s and started USNow. Since 1995, we have been a trailblazer in the creation of benefit plans for individuals that cover their basic healthcare needs without breaking their family budgets. We found that the very nature of the trucking industry makes it difficult to offer suitable health insurance that fits drivers’ needs. With many drivers operating as independent contractors, trucking companies aren’t able to provide them access to reasonably priced healthcare.

The managed limited benefit plan isn’t a substitute for comprehensive medical coverage and should not be marketed or considered as such. Nonetheless, these benefit packages provide individuals with the basic coverage they need to diagnose and address health problems before they become more serious.

Families enrolled in managed limited benefit plans can make multiple doctor visits each year, receive lab testing benefits and purchase prescription drugs at significantly lower costs. These are just a few of the preventive measures that otherwise would not be available to drivers. And the premiums for these plans can be as much as 75% less than the costs for some full medical plans.

The popularity of managed limited benefit plans is based largely on their affordability. But with the surge of enrollees in these plans and growing competition, truck drivers who sign up can get even more for their investment. The best plans on the market today offer participants the option of “buying up” to expanded coverage that will handle a greater percentage of their hospital bills, the costs for treating critical illnesses and intensive care programs.

Managed limited benefit plans do have limitations. There are maximums on the amount that will be paid for hospital stays. But the best benefit packages, such as those offered by USNow, have strong advocacy teams that go to bat for drivers and trucking companies when the cost of medical treatment is being negotiated.

A driver enrolled in our plan was recently diagnosed with cancer and faced the prospect of leaving his job to undergo chemotherapy treatments or pay for costly prescription drugs that would bankrupt his family. One of our advocates, working directly with the driver’s healthcare provider, got a pharmaceutical company to provide the driver the drugs he needed at no charge – for life! It’s just one of the many innovative aspects of these types of plans that make them work effectively.

Another element that makes them so attractive is the fact that trucking companies can sign up for group policies without having to contribute financially. They provide an important benefit to drivers without affecting their budgets. At the same time, many other trucking firms do contribute to these plans to help reduce the burden on their employees and self-employed contractors.

The healthcare crisis has been building in the United States for years and won’t go away overnight. There are more than 45 million Americans with no health insurance. That’s more than the entire population of Canada.

This is an issue that reaches well beyond the trucking industry. But given the high costs drivers face on so many different fronts, the lack of affordable health insurance has hit this industry particularly hard. There are plenty of challenges out on the road, but heading out in your rig with nothing more than your seatbelt to protect you no longer has to be one.

~ David Lindsey is Chief Executive Officer of USNow, a nationally recognized provider of managed limited benefit plans based in Dallas, Texas. If you have questions, he can be reached at dlindsey@usnow.com or by calling USNow toll free at 1-800-694-9888.