Designing a comprehensive employee benefits plan today can be like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. Though traditional health insurance products provide the major pieces, discount benefit plans can be a cost-effective way to complete the picture.

The past few years have seen steady growth for these plans, which historically have been defined more by what they are not than by what they are.

"I think most people who participate in health care discount plans know they are not insurance, but the challenge is to communicate what they actually are," says Allen Erenbaum, president of Consumer Health Alliance, a national trade association in Dallas. "This is not because they are complicated, but because many people are not familiar with the concept. The plans are extremely simple."