Just my two cents. I won’t say that Demand Studios intentionally misled anyone. But it is a content site. Therefore, they should offer correct wording/content in offers they make. No, they didn’t have to make the offer at all. But a health discount plan is far different than insurance, and to call it insurance is inacurate, and a DS editor should have caught this.

Demand Studios had good intentions when they set out to find affordable healthcare for their creators, and they have good intentions now.

Now, this may not be what you had in mind but the gesture is there. No one lied and no one set out to mislead you. You don’t need to take them up on their offer, but at least take it in the spirit in which is was intended. If it’s not for you, it’s not for you. However, no one set out to mislead you and no one lied.

I’ve been writing for the web and freelancing for ten years, and I can’t think of a single other client who would do this for a freelancer. You may not think this is a big deal, but I find it to be a major step in the right direction and I’ll continue to support Demand Studios even if it means only two people are left in this community.

““In all fairness,” Deb, I believe that calling this plan “health insurance” is incredibly misleading, regardless of whether DS intended to mislead anyone; and in fact in my original comment I raised the possibility that DS was mislead themselves. That appears to be the case; but what DS believes does not change the fact that this is not health insurance, and people have the right to be disappointed regardless of whether DS intended to mislead them or not.”

Amy, again, no one is saying you shouldn’t be disappointed or even to offer respectful feedback. My issue is with your calling them liars, when this isn’t the case. I realize you feel misled, but no one set out to mislead you and therein lies the difference. By all means, express your disappointment but I don’t think a public lynching is the best approach.

I agree that the limitations should have been spelled out more clearly in the announcements. When I read them, I thought “Hallelujah! I can have regular people insurance that would help pay for normal medical care and protect against a catastrophic illness or injury (as opposed to what I have now, which doesn’t kick in until I’ve spend $3000 (or $6,000 if I’m out of network).”

I was a little disappointed, too…not mad at Demand, ’cause this plan is better than nothing, but disappointed nonetheless.

I think with all the recent negativity it would be the last thing they’d do. I spoke to them on the phone today and they honestly believe they are offering you access to insurance. So perhaps your definitions are different, but no one lied to you. I would never risk my reputation and put my support into a company that lied to its freelancers.

Again, I appreciate that people worked hard to make this happen, but people’s expectations would not have been too high if they had been told from the outset that it was a discount plan, not actual insurance.

No one lied. It wasn’t the plan you wanted, but no one lied. The DS team spent hours, days even, looking for affordable plans for freelance writers. I feel that even if you don’t like the plans, there’s no need for anger. I think the expectations were too high from the community and in retrospect, introducing the plan without all the details probably wasn’t the best idea.

But no one lied.

No one is telling anyone to shut up and be grateful, feedback is always important. I just don’t understand the negativity. Some people worked very hard to negotiate this and to have everyone turn around and say “well this sucks” isn’t very encouraging and doesn’t offer them motivation to try harder. So feedback is good but I’m not a fan of negativity.

I for one am happy that Demand has brought this forward to us. Your post shows too, some of the tedious work behind the scenes that makes something like this possible. Where did people forget that they are “freelancers”? I ramble, I know.

I have been called many things due to my full support of Demand Studios both in and out of the DS community. I say, call me what you will…but for me at this point in my career Demand Studios has made it possible to start fulfilling a dream that others will only ever dream about.

Then again, DS could have been misled as well. When I was shopping for insurance, I had a particular health care discount plan company practically harass me by phone for several weeks asking if I wanted insurance. Never disclosed the fact that they were a discount plan; I had to look that up on their web site. It’s possible that some people aren’t clear about the difference.

Kudos to Demand for offering this plan, but people who sign up should expect some (potentially hefty) out-of-pocket costs if they get really sick or hurt. Also, it’s important to understand that there’s no cap on the amount you pay out of pocket, either, so signing up for high-deductible catastrophic health coverage would probably be a smart move.

Again, I’m not criticizing Demand, but when I saw “no co-pays,” “no deductibles,” etc I thought maybe it would replace my crappy catastrophic plan. It won’t-but it could supplement it.

And yes, there are some very cool things coming up in the next couple of months and I can’t wait to tell you about them here!

I am interested in what you said, Deb, about what will be happening in the coming months. I was discussing this with some other writers and I said that this makes me wonder what else DS is willing to do to help their writers. Obviously they care and want to make our lives a bit better, so this may be the beginning of the good things. Apparently, I may be right judging by your comment. I’m anxious to see what may be in the works.

While it is unfortunate that no matter what you write there may be some nay-sayers, the number of individuals that appreciate this post will far outweigh them. As an inactive insurance broker (I still have my license), I can honestly say that from what I’ve seen so far Demand Studios is to be commended for what they have accomplished in offering this health care plan. The majority of health care plans on the market will not insure many individuals because of pre-existing conditions, weight and a few hundred other reasons I have documented. And if they do accept you the cost is so unbelievable for one person, there is no hope affording a family plan. Bottom line, individuals that need health care will have access.

As far your partnership with Demand Studios, I am confident that many will join me in support with a genuine “You go girl!”. You work hard and you’re good to your online community.

Cheers & Best Wishes for your continue success!

Bethany