Is AmeriPlan a Scam? (Surviving 25+ Years in Business is not by Luck)
Welcome to my AmeriPlan review!
Chances are, someone has just introduced to you this "business opportunity" where you can save money on healthcare and also make money at the same time.
Sounds like a pretty good opportunity, huh?
But, is AmeriPlan a scam? And is it too good to be true to save and make money at the same time?
Let's find out...
AmeriPlan Review Summary
Product Name: AmeriPlan USA
Founder: Founded by Dennis Bloom (CEO) and Daniel Bloom (President & COO) in 1992 in Texas, USA
Product Type: MLM business offering discounts for healthcare services
Price: Packages ranging from $24.95 to $269.95
Best For: Americans in certain States (I'll explain later)
Summary: AmeriPlan is a MLM business which focuses on recruiting people into the system. Despite they offer legit services, it's only for certain States in the US. If you're not in the US, this program is definitely not for you. Check out the States that are excluded for this program here.
Rating: 45/100
Recommended: No
More...
What is AmeriPlan?
AmeriPlan is a Discount Medical Plans Organization (DMPO) and it claims itself to be the largest value-oriented & discounted fee-for-service plan.
Err...so what does that mean, Jerry?
Basically, AmeriPlan is a company that offers you discounts on various healthcare/medical services if you pay them a monthly fee.
It's kinda like an insurance plan but it is NOT.
AmeriPlan acts as the middleman between the general public who needs healthcare services and service providers, such as doctors, dentists, pharmacists, etc.
What AmeriPlan does is that they work with these healthcare service providers and negotiate on a special discounted price for AmeriPlan members.
The discount varies from service to service. In general, discounts range from 15-50% but some services like teeth cleaning and X-ray can have discounts up to 80%.
On the other hand, AmeriPlan members will pay a monthly fee depending on the package they choose and they can enjoy the healthcare benefits from these AmeriPlan partners.
That's why AmeriPlan claims themselves to be the smart alternative for the uninsured and the under-insured.
Back in 1992, AmeriPlan started off by only providing dental care discounts because Dennis & Daniel saw the need for dental care services.
There were 58 Million uninsured Americans with no health savings plan.
Due to the growing demand, they soon expanded their services and AmeriPlan now offers discounts for services like:
- Medical
- Dental
- Vision
- Prescription
- Chiropractic
- Physician
- X-ray
- Lab
- Hospital Advocacy
I'm Jerry!
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AmeriPlan Business Opportunity
What I've just covered is the part on "saving money". Now, here's the part on "making money" with AmeriPlan...
There are 2 main ways for you to make money with AmeriPlan:
- Earn retail profits by selling their healthcare packages
- Recruit people to become Benefit Consultants (BC)
Yes, AmeriPlan is a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) company.
So if you want to make money with them, you have to pay a fee to become their Benefit Consultant (BC) which is basically their "salesperson".
Once you're a BC of AmeriPlan, they'll provide you with a number of training and resources to help you build your business. For example, you'll get:
- BC Business E-Kit - Digital Starter Package to help you start your MLM business
- 5 E-commerce Enabled Websites - For you to build your brand, collect leads & generate sales
- BC Back office - Platform for you to track your business performance, access training materials, tools and other resources.
These things are in place for you to sell AmeriPlan's products as well as help you recruit more people into the system.
AmeriPlan is a typical MLM business because you'll earn commission for the sales that your downlines bring in.
I'll explain to you the compensation plan in just a moment.
AmeriPlan Product Lines
AmeriPlan has 3 main product packages...
1. AmeriPlan Dental Plus ($24.95/month)
This plan gives you savings on:
- Dental
- Vision
- Prescription
- Hearing
- Chiropractic services
2. AmeriPlan MED Plus ($24.95/month)
This plan has the same price as the Dental Plus plan but it's a separate plan with totally different service. This plan offers:
- Telemedicine (24Hr access to a doctor by phone or Email)
- Hospital Advocacy
- Ancillary Care
3. AmeriPlan Deluxe Plus ($39.95/month)
Deluxe Plus is basically the combination of Dental Plus and MED Plus. So you can enjoy discounts for the services offered in both package at a lower price.
The good thing about AmeriPlan's package is that each of these package can cover the whole household, not just yourself.
So I think that it is pretty cost-effective.
However, if you want to become a BC to make money with AmeriPlan, you still have to pay a $24.95 Annual Enrollment Fee (AEF) and a $20 registration fee.
Take Dental Plus package as an example, your total cost of starting your business is ($24.95 + $24.95 + $20) = $69.90
Afterwards, you need to continue paying the $24.95 monthly fee and the $24.95 annual fee.
AmeriPlan Compensation Plan
AmeriPlan pays 40% commission to all the commission-qualified members.
They also have several bonus incentives in place to encourage members to work harder and "recruit more people".
One famous incentive is the Cadillac Club where you can win a Cadillac if you earn $50K within a 12 months period and maintain a $4K monthly income.
All I could say is that these kind of incentives are only for those few top earners. Majority of the members will never reach that level and enjoy that reward.
This picture shows the compensation plan of AmeriPlan.
The vertical column represents your rank within the company and the horizontal rows represent the number of generations.
Number of generations refer to your downline.
Let say you're qualified for the rank SESD, which means you need to have at least 9 qualifying RSD sales. And you can earn commission down to the 3rd level of your downline.
I know it's quite hard to understand this because it is indeed complicated.
All you need to know about there compensation plan is this:
- You earn 40% commission for all the sales you make
- You can earn commissions from the downlines of your downlines down to the 5th generation (This is what makes this a MLM business because it is "multi-level")
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Who is AmeriPlan For?
First of all, it is only for Americans who are living in certain States of America because their services are not available in all other places.
Secondly, you need to be good at networking and talking on phones because one of the strategies they teach is to do cold-calling.
Pros & Cons
The Good
1. More Than 25 Years in Business
AmeriPlan was launched back in 1992. It's been in business for more than 25 years.
I believe there are some good reasons for a company to survive for so long.
If it is a scam, it would have been shut down long ago.
2. A Relatively Cheap MLM
I would say it's cheap as I've seen many other MLM companies asking you to pay hundreds of dollars per month just to be eligible for commissions.
However, AmeriPlan only requires you to pay a monthly fee of $24.95 and make at least one sale per month to be qualified for commission.
Also, AmeriPlan's package covers the whole household.
They said that:
"A household membership includes all residents in the household including parents, children, relatives, significant others and all permanent residents of the household!"
So basically you're spending $24.95 per month to give your family a healthcare discount and a potential to make some residual income.
3. Decent Rating
AmeriPlan have pretty decent ratings on websites like Glassdoor & indeed. The rating is more than 4 out of 5 at the time when this review was written.
Although AmeriPlan is not accredited by Better Business Bureau (BBB), it has an A+ rating in the system:
4. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
This requires no further explanation. If you're not happy with their service, you can always request a refund within 30 days.
The Bad
1. Google Trend Decline
I've just done a search on Google Trends and found out that the public interests toward AmeriPlan has been declining over the years as compared to year 2004 when it was the most popular.
This may be telling us something about this company. I've even heard people saying that this company is now losing money.
It's just a rumor but I think it's worth taking into our consideration.
2. Limited AmeriPlan Partners
Despite they claimed that they have over 200,000 healthcare providers working with them, there are still many who don't.
One problem members have experienced is that there are not enough AmeriPlan partners for them to enjoy their discounts and bonuses.
For example, if they you go to a dentist who is not a partner of AmeriPlan, you have to pay the full price. No discounts for you.
3. Ineffective Business Strategy
Like I've mentioned earlier, one of the ways they recommend is to promote AmeriPlan via cold-calling.
Basically, you need to call random numbers and try to sell AmeriPlan to the people on the other side of the phone.
It's a marketing strategy of the past. It doesn't work anymore today.
Since AmeriPlan started back in 1992, I can see why they recommend this strategy.
They're definitely moving more to the online world. This is also why you're given your personal websites once you become their Benefit Consultant.
But they're still lacking a lot of important marketing tools like traffic and lead generation.
Take a look at My Lead System Pro. It is a pretty good tool for network marketers to generate more leads and sales online.
Just by using the duplicated websites given by AmeriPlan is not enough to make money.
4. Complicated Compensation Plan
Could you understand my earlier explanation regarding the compensation plan?
Well, there are a lot more details to the compensation plan. I've tried my best to simplify it as much as possible.
All in all, AmeriPlan has a really complicated compensation plan from what I see.
5. Only Available in Certain States of America
As you can see from the name of this company, it only offer services in America. But there are quite a number of states that AmeriPlan doesn't offer their services:
Alaska, Guam, Montana, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, Wyoming, US Virgin Islands, Utah
Is AmeriPlan a Scam?
AmeriPlan is not a scam. They don't survive for more than 25 years by pure luck.
If it is a scam, it would have been shut down long ago.
However, I really don't like the fact that their main focus is about recruiting people into the system. This is a very common problem for many MLM businesses.
Also, if you want to make money with AmeriPlan, there's a high chance that you are going to pitch to your friends and family members about this "business opportunity".
And before you realize, you're already sabotaging your friendships and relationships.
Even though AmeriPlan is not a scam, I wouldn't recommend it either!
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