Pros and Cons

[OdTech]

Hello :) Please list all the pros and cons of Cash vs Insurances used mainly for eyeglass sells

Greatly appreciated

[chip anderson]

Insurance: Pro. Try to increase volume

Insurance: Con: Reduced fees, less say over who you see, what you will sell for what fee, how you will do business, lots of paperwork and records, lowering your standards. Finding out that "preapproved" don't always mean you gonna git paid, especially in full. Finding out all the things you can do wrong on forms, many of which you were instructed to do by the maker of the form. Waiting for your payments. Keeping track of what you actually got paid for vs. what you sent in claims for.

Cash: Ain't nuthin wrong with cash, Baby!

;)
Chip

[Texas Ranger]

Odtech, basically, when you're on a "cash basis", you can charge your clietele what you have deemed a price that helps you run your business profitably, in a one to one relationship with your client. Now, the client gets "vision care insurance", and your "relationship" goes out the door (sometimes), just because someone else is paying, or that they have paid premiums into the plan, and you're not on it...so, they've "saved" up their money, but can only spend it one place...Now, for you to be a provider, you are required to "mark-up" at rate that makes you non-competitive for your non-insurance patients, so if you participate, you get to keep some volume customers, but you lose many others over your new price structure...and the aggravation doing the insurance paperwork, the pre-approval process, and the claim finling, and the waiting for your payment is certainly not condusive to operating your business, and maintaining your sanity...98% of our clients are NOT on insurance, and generally pay in full when they ORDER their glasses, the difference in cash flow is amazing...some do have insurance that has a "reimbursment" plan... when people have insurance plans, they don't necessarily realize how much more it makes their eyewear cost, they have the PERCEPTION that they are getting a good deal...hmmmm, are they?

[drk]

Insurance= municipal bond: safe, reliable, low rate of return. An important part of your investment portfolio as a hedge against bad times. Asset allocation: 20-40%.

Private pay=stock market: higher-yield, more volatile. The bulk of your investment portfolio: 60-80%. Some private-pays are blue-chips traded on the Dow, some are so-so Nasdaq stocks. But this is where the money is.

The better you get, the more selective you are, in our business, unless you're trying to operate a chain. The goal is to move from the high-volume, low reimbursement to the low-volume, high reimbursement. It can take a business a long time to do that.

[OdTech]

Hello guys, in general, There are some very greedy people who don't want the work-o-holic people like us to make a very good dough. This is why we've got insurance to create more problems when we should stick with CASH and push everyone who comes through the door to pay in cash ONLY, no insurance whatsoever. Another alternative is Debit cards only.

So to conlclude this thread Everyone should stick with CASH.:idea:

Thanx to everyone who participated.

[LENNY]

If you not going to take any insurancws in NYC I will give you 2 years in bussines the most (thats if you have money to add to your bussiness for a year and a half)

Good luck getting on the panel with the insurances even if you want to!!

[For-Life]

In Ontario, and I know Manitoba most clients vision care plans usually are like $175 every two years. Some plans you can submit for and some you can't, but they can buy anywhere they want. When have two plans in Ontario that we can submit for. Customers like that so they do not have to pay up front. The other companies the client has to send in their bill and form and they get re-embersed (sp?).

[Cowboy]

Cash, its a wonderful thing, but who has it anymore. Today its about the plastic and living on credit. A sad statistic, at least for 68% of America, is that they are only two paychecks away from bankruptcy. Its great to have 'private pays', but that does not instill anymore loyalty than the insurance carrier. If we segregate between the two, then are we really providing the service we as opticians were meant to provide - 'patient care'? The average time a person stays on the same insurance is 4 years, after that, they may pick another and your not on the provider list - then they are gone. Same is for a 'cash' client, they may stay with you for 2-3 cycles, then they move on to explore other opportunities. Having insurance plans in your business is not going to hurt, only help. Sure, there is more work involved, but, if you/we provide the proper service, selection, professionalism, care, etc., the patient requires, then it really should not be a question of pros and cons to ins. vs. cash, because either way you look at it, its all borrowed money anyway. Its what you do with it that will make the difference.
:cheers:

Cowboy