Healthcare Consumers: Higher Co-Pays; Higher Premiums; Higher Deductibles... HIRE an Advocate!

Tampa, FL, 02/07/2005 -- Navigating the maze of health care and health insurance systems grows increasingly more frustrating every day. Health insurance plans continue to migrate to higher out-of-pocket limits and more complicated benefit structures.

Consumer-directed health plans, such as Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) are rising in popularity. And, while these programs are great tools for reining in escalating health care costs, these programs can also be much harder to understand and more difficult to use to the consumer’s best advantage.

In addition, many of the daily claims and service issues once handled by insurance agents and consultants can no longer be consistently and satisfactorily resolved by these same professionals due to recently passed regulation intended to protect the consumer’s privacy and confidentiality. The old ways of doing business have just become old.

Consumers clearly need an advocate. Good Health Associates, with offices in Tampa, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale and Ft. Myers, has partnered with Patient Care, headquartered in New Orleans, to help users of the healthcare system in Florida get the most for their insurance and healthcare dollars -- plus reduce the stress and time associated with service and claims issues.

Through Good Health Associates, Patient Care provides assistance for employees and their families by working with their health care providers and insurance plans, intervening to resolve a multitude of situations that most consumers have neither the time nor the expertise to handle.

“The cost of care is burden enough,” says Mitchell Bodden, President of Good Health Associates, “but the frustration with day to day service issues is enough to turn whispers into shouts. Patient Care assists employers and employees in resolving billing and claim payment issues, plan authorization and referral conflicts and helps educate members in general about their health plan process. That’s a huge deal these days.”

Patient Care serves more than 55,000 consumers nationwide and has an office in the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. Patient Care utilization data shows that employers save an average of three dollars for every dollar spent on their healthcare advocacy program by maximizing coverage, correcting claims and reducing the time employees spend away from their duties dealing with insurance-related problems.

“Through our agreement with Good Health Associates, Patient Care becomes an option for employers and individuals throughout Florida,” said Jane Cooper, CEO and President of Patient Care. “Our advocates and professionals ’speak the language’ of an increasingly complex health system resulting in savings, and greater satisfaction for our customers.”

About Patient Care

Patient Care has been providing advocacy services to employers, employees and consumers since January 2002. Patient Care’s client base consists of employer groups throughout the United States as well as individual members in 42 states. They also work closely with national consulting firms to position advocacy as a strategic solution for their clients. Patient Care has regional sales offices in Denver, Milwaukee and New York: www.patientcare4u.com

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