You would think that, with the universal health care approaching, there would be no use for a non insurance health plan whatsoever. However, the story is more complicated.

When you desperately want health coverage, but you can not get health insurance through work, then the personal health insurance may be a way for you to get health insurance in the private, or individual insurance market place.

When you are unable to get insurance in the private market place, then today, thanks to the Affordable Health Care Act of 2010, you can get federal health insurance under highly advantageous conditions, and for a really good price.

However, there is a catch - you have to be without any health insurance for the past six months. If you have had health insurance anytime in the past six months, even if it is simply a gap health insurance, or a temporary health insurance, or any kind of high risk health insurance, your application for the federal health insurance will be declined. What do you do until you become eligible and you still have medical examinations, medications, and hospitalization to pay for in the mean time?

Instant non insurance medical plans come to the rescue

Not all is lost since there are, at this time, several non insurance options available. It is very important that these are non insurances for you to be compliant with the requirement of the PCIP.

The supplemental non insurance health plans work on the principle where a non insurance company will market health services to a large group of individuals. When these individuals become members, they have increased purchasing power and therefore, the company can negotiate lower, or discounted prices on all services that medical staff performs.

This is not unlike how Groupon is able to lower the cost of a meal in a restaurant by 50% or more.

The discounts in medical care typically range between 20% to 60% although savings of 80% and more on certain medical procedures and hospitalizations are not unheard of.

Just like with a PPO plan, you have to visit a participating physician to obtain discounts. However, you can change physicians at any time, and you decide what procedures you want or do not want done.

A medical non-insurance program, or a medical discount plan can significantly lower the costs of doctors visits, cost of medications, cost of supplies such as diabetes or asthma supplies, and even lower the costs of glasses, hearing equipment, and any dental services.

For hospitalization costs, the medical discount companies can either pre-negotiate the cost reductions on hospital procedures (when you already know you need to go into a hospital), or, just as well, invoke a post-hospitalization negotiation with the hospital to lower the costs significantly, usually with great success and significant reduction of hospital fees charged.

And the best part, these discount medical programs will not cost you an arm and a leg either; you will be able to get a program that includes medical discounts for under $40 per month. One of the best medical discount programs in the US is Ameriplan. For more information on Ameriplan, see site MyBenefitsPlus.com.

There are no time limits on how long you must stay a member, and your medical benefits, including hospitalization, kick in in as little as three days from signup. This makes it a really great non-insurance program that can help you save money on all medical expenses during your PCIP six months waiting period.

And, since PCIP does not cover dental care, or provide any kind of dental insurance, you can after six months simply downgrade Ameriplan to the dental-only benefit.

For more information on Ameriplan, as well as other instant non-insurance medical plans, see section about getting health insurance quotes online.