AUSTIN, Texas — For many people who don't work a traditional 9-to-5 job, health insurance can be an issue. It can be difficult to pay for, or hard to use.
But a new company that just launched in Austin hopes to help those buying their own insurance.
That comes in handy for bartenders and servers in Austin, like those working at Seven Grand on East Seventh Street.
"I love it, I absolutely love my job," said Steven White, the bar manager.
He knows the pressure that not having insurance can bring.
"It comes to the point where you're trying to figure out how many shifts you need to work before you can afford to go to the doctor for that one thing you've been holding off for a month," said White. "This industry does not allow businesses to provide those types of business to provide those types of benefits for people and now we can do that."
"We created a product that's totally different and a totally new approach to that particular problem," said Patrick Quigley, the creator of Sidecar Health. "Right now we're actually rolled out all across Texas, but Austin was the first city that we launched in."
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Quigley created Sidecar Health with the goal of giving cheaper health insurance to those buying it on their own, using an app.
"Could we actually design what they actually want, and that combined with realizing that cash prices for healthcare are so much cheaper? We were able to put those two things together, and using technology come up with a solution that was just fundamentally different," said Quigley
That's because doctors charge more to insurance companies as opposed to cash patients. Quigley says the average discount is around 40%.
This is because there's less administrative work when patients pay cash. So Sidecar users have a card they can swipe, and in their app there's what the company will pay for each procedure. Quigley says this gives users more control.
"It's the consumer in control of making the healthcare transaction," said Quigley, "with the information about the cost."
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As for White and his bartenders, this option relieves some of the problems they used to deal with.
"They can go and do everything that they need to do just like that," said White.
Sidecar is launching next in Georgia, Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama and Florida.
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