Consumers Look to Daily Deals to Meet Health Care Needs

For years, the daily deal market has offered consumers an inexpensive way to purchase luxury items they otherwise might not have been able to afford. When spa treatments and vacation deals are sold at up to 90% off, we jump at the opportunity to treat ourselves to something special. Increasingly though, consumers are turning to the daily deals market to meet basic health care needs.

Moving beyond luxury buys

Nancy Stafford, a Texas-based childcare provider, had to cancel her health insurance in 2010 following her husband’s unexpected death. Stafford isn’t going without a six month checkup, though. Instead, she’s joined a growing number of uninsured Americans who have turned to daily deals to meet their needs.

 “I have kids to feed and food to put on the table,” said Stafford. “When my dental insurance went up to $500 a month, I cancelled the policy and started buying vouchers to a dentist’s office.” Stafford paid only $45 last year for $200 in dental services.

And Stafford isn’t alone.  Jim Benson runs a successful marketing company in Chicago, Illinois, but struggled to make his $400 monthly premiums for dental care. “I had to give up dental insurance in 2010,” claims Benson. “Now that I use daily deals, I’m actually saving money and still getting good care.” Last month, Benson paid only $39 for a routine dental checkup, a visit that normally costs more than $175. More...