Renco Direct An alternative? Only if you have an extra $88/month to waste. Yukon, Oklahoma

My wife and I signed up for this alternative to health insurance when we were unemployed. We felt that we needed some type of "coverage" in case of emergency as we could not afford a COBRA or similar plan (our financial state was also to the point that we needed to file bankruptcy so this appeared to be the only option).

Unfortunately, my wife had to go to the ER a few weeks ago (on a weekend when there was no one at Renco to answer a question either by phone or on the website to determine if certain hospitals were preferred). Per the samples on the website, I felt that we should have expected some type of help from Renco in negotiating a discount.

After sending in my paperwork, I received an answer from Renco. It would be my responsibility to contact the hospital and personally attempt to negotiate any discount!!! I contacted the rep who signed me up (and to her credit she has been very responsive however she is not the person who can alter any of this). She forwarded several emails to the CEO which asked him to get back with me to try to resolve this dilemma. I have heard nothing from anyone at Renco corporate (except from the customer service rep who initially told me that Renco could not help). This seems to say a lot about the value system of a company which prefers to remain silent when a client is experiencing problems through no fault of their own.

Let the buyer beware. The target market group of Renco is self-employed and unemployed folks who need a reliable affordable health care alternative. In my humble opinion, this is akin to preying on the elderly.

Save your $88/month as it buys you nothing. However, it does pad the pockets of the execs and others in this MLM style business.