At Embody Health and Performance, we believe in helping people make informed choices about their care. The information shared here reflects what we’ve found through our own research, education, and experience working within and alongside the healthcare system. We’re not insurance brokers or financial advisors, and this isn’t legal or financial advice—it’s intended to help you better understand your options so you can do your own research and make decisions that fit your life, values, and health goals.
For a deeper look at today’s most promising alternatives, read Blog 3: 5 Real Alternatives to Traditional Insurance (Including Options for Medicare Recipients). It’s a practical overview of how direct care, health sharing, and out-of-network models can offer freedom within a broken system.
Why Now
Premiums are soaring, deductibles are skyrocketing, and access keeps shrinking. According to the KFF 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey, the average family premium has doubled since 2010, reaching over $25,000 per year. Add deductibles averaging $8,000–$12,000 and the majority of Americans are “functionally uninsured.”
If you’re paying for coverage you can’t afford to use, the system isn’t serving you.
Here’s how to change that—five practical moves to keep more money in your pocket and more care in your hands.
1. Choose Smart During Open Enrollment
For most people, the biggest annual financial decision isn’t their mortgage—it’s their insurance plan.
When reviewing options, look for:
- No network restrictions or penalties for out-of-network care.
- Reference-based pricing (RBP) options that let you pay fair-market rates rather than inflated “discounted” prices.
- Wellness benefits that include chiropractic, physical therapy, direct primary care (DPC), or functional wellness coaching.
If you have employer coverage, ask directly whether your plan uses RBP or allows direct access to licensed providers like physical therapists and chiropractors.
2. Build Your Direct-Care Team
Combine a direct primary care doctor with out-of-network specialists you trust—physical therapists, functional wellness coaches, naturopaths, acupuncturists, or nutritionists.
These practitioners often provide longer sessions, personalized treatment, and clear costs, focusing on your long-term function, not your short-term code.
When your care team is chosen for expertise instead of network contracts, results improve and surprise bills disappear.
Direct-care medicine brings healthcare back to the two people who matter most: the patient and the provider.
3. Use Price Discovery to Your Advantage
Healthcare is the only industry where you often don’t know the cost until weeks later. That’s by design—opaque pricing benefits intermediaries, not patients.
You can change that.
Before you book any service, ask for an itemized estimate or a Good Faith Estimate (federally required under the No Surprises Act).
Request:
- UB-04 (Hospital Form) — itemized hospital charges
- CMS-1500 (Professional Services Form) — itemized provider charges
Then compare with real-time rates using:
- Turquoise Health (cash-pricing database)
- FAIR Health Consumer
Most clinics and hospitals will discount 30–40 % for upfront payment. And when you pay cash, you eliminate the months-long claims lag that drives costs up for everyone.
4. Explore Health Sharing or Catastrophic Coverage
For true financial protection, pair a low-cost catastrophic policy with a health-sharing community—a cooperative model that covers large medical expenses without dictating where you can receive care.
Health-sharing organizations like Zion Health Share and CrowdHealth allow you to choose your own providers, often saving 30–60 % compared to traditional premiums.
Many even lower your monthly share or deductible when you participate in preventive care, such as physical therapy, chiropractic, or functional wellness programs.
These communities eliminate the middlemen and redirect funds to what matters—real care, not corporate overhead.
Explore: Zion Health Share | CrowdHealth.
5. Invest in Prevention That Pays You Back
The best way to spend less on insurance is to need less of it.
Prevention isn’t about chasing perfection—it’s about supporting what the body already knows how to do: heal, adapt, and thrive.
When you work with professionals who understand that health is an innate, living process, not a problem to fix, care shifts from intervention to stewardship.
True prevention is built on partnership—helping the body stay in rhythm with itself and its environment.
Functional movement, restorative sleep, nourishing food, time in sunlight, healthy relationships, emotional awareness, and mindful stress management all strengthen your capacity for health. These aren’t quick fixes; they’re the daily ingredients that make vitality sustainable.
The best practitioners—whether physical therapists, physicians, acupuncturists, or functional wellness coaches—share one philosophy: they support the body’s natural design rather than override it. They use interventions sparingly, with respect for the body’s ability to heal when given the right conditions.
You’ll often find this approach in out-of-network, direct-care, and integrative clinics, where providers have more time and freedom to treat the whole human, not a billing code. But it also exists within the networked system among clinicians who practice with intention and awareness. What matters most isn’t the credential—it’s the philosophy behind the care.
Many health-sharing communities and progressive plan designs now recognize this truth, offering wellness credits or reduced deductibles when members engage regularly in preventive care. Some insurance alternatives, and even certain employer plans, now extend discounts to deductibles or premium adjustments when you maintain consistent relationships with healthcare providers whose focus is prevention and the maintenance of wellness—such as physical therapists, functional wellness coaches, acupuncturists, and other integrative practitioners. These partnerships help reduce risk and overall cost by keeping people well rather than waiting for them to become sick.
At Embody Health and Performance, our model is built on that same principle—helping clients build strength, awareness, mobility, and resilience through physical therapy, functional wellness coaching, and integrative care that supports the body’s natural design to heal—so that health is not managed, but lived.
Conclusion
You don’t have to wait for the system to change. By making five intentional moves—
- Choosing smarter coverage
- Building a direct-care team
- Demanding price transparency
- Exploring health-sharing or catastrophic options
- Investing deeply in prevention—
you take back control of your health and your finances.
Some may call this radical. We call it responsible, human, and sustainable.
Because true healthcare isn’t a policy—it’s a partnership between your body, your choices, and the professionals who believe in both.
As always, we encourage you to explore these ideas further, ask questions, and seek professional guidance where needed. The more you understand the system, the more freedom you have within it.
