Health insurance can be frustrating, confusing and intimidating. It is common to be overwhelmed by everything you need to know in order to select the right coverage. Don’t let your confusion or feelings of overwhelm scare you away from learning about health insurance. Health insurance decisions are too important to make blindly or to procrastinate about making at all. The following advice will help you begin.
If you’ve just graduated from college and are looking to purchase health insurance for the first time, keep the following in mind. If you got a job right out of college, check the health insurance they offer. If you are 25 and under, you can still be part of your parents’ plan. Of course, you can also check for your own individual plan if neither of those works.
It is important to review your health insurance policy each year during open enrollment. You may want to make changes to your current policy if something isn’t working, or maybe your health needs have changed or your family has grown. Open enrollment offers you the ability to change vision and dental coverage, too, if you have that option.
Health Insurance Premiums
Track your health insurance premiums to cut down your tax liability. Although many people aren’t aware of the fact, health insurance premiums are tax deductible. Health insurance premiums, prescription costs, deductibles and other expenses not covered by insurance may be deductible on your tax return. Check to see what guidelines the federal and state governments have for tax breaks.
Regardless of the kind of policy you have, choosing generic medications will always save you money. There are only a few drugs that you can not get in a generic form, and there have been many studies that have shown there is not any difference between these and a name brand pill.
Be sure to check with the hospitals and the doctors that you are comfortable with to make sure that they accept the health insurance that you are considering. Your insurance company should have a website devoted to important benefit information.
If pregnancy is in your plans for the future, make sure your insurance policy will cover all of your pregnancy-related expenses. You need to know this as some insurance plans do not cover all aspects of the pregnancy and labor.
If you’re in good health and don’t need to visit the doctor very often, an HSA, or health savings account, may prove beneficial for you. All of the money that you save from paying premiums and deductibles, can be put into this account and used for any medical expenses that you incur.
Health Insurance
For those who do not have the money for a regular and complete health insurance policy, but would like to be covered for unforeseen accidents, injuries or a serious illness, catastrophic health insurance is a good alternative. It’s also good to add it to your comprehensive policy as an added coverage in case of extreme circumstances.
As you’ve seen, while a complex area health insurance can be understood. You should take some time to become educated about it. By following the tips from this article, you should now be prepared to make smart and astute health insurance decisions.
