Health insurance is a must-have in the event you have a serious medical emergency. You never know when disaster will strike in the form of illness, accident or injury. If you aren’t prepared with a good health insurance plan, you could stand to lose everything. If you have a good health plan in place, you can rest easy that your expenses will be taken care of. You have a couple of choices when it comes to purchasing health insurance. You can go with an individual plan, or if your employer offers group insurance, you can save money by choosing that plan.
When you choose health insurance, know what your policy covers. Health insurance that will cover incidents like these can make a huge impact on the downtime you might experience.
When thinking about health insurance via your employer, check your loved ones’ health and your personal health. It is tempting to pay less of a premium if you are a healthy individual. Saving money is good up front, but if you don’t have enough coverage, problems can get expensive quickly.
Do your research and calculate your costs if you are thinking about purchasing individual health insurance. It is important for you to take the time to understand exactly what your co-pays, premiums and deductibles are when you have health insurance.
Open Enrollment
Open enrollment is a time for you to assess your health care needs. What worked for you in the past might now be inadequate, especially if your health has changed or you need to add someone to your coverage. Remember to make any necessary adjustments to your vision and dental plans during open enrollment as well.
Choose catastrophic insurance coverage over comprehensive to lower your premiums. Comprehensive plans cover every little prescription or doctors visit, while catastrophic covers only bigger bills like emergency room visits or hospital stays.
It doesn’t matter the type of insurance coverage you currently have, but you will save money if you choose generic drugs. It’s unlikely that your prescription will not have a generic option, and studies have proven that the efficacy of both name brand and generic prescriptions are equal.
Choose the type of health insurance plan that best suits your needs. Decide if you prefer an HMO, POS or PPO. Each of these options offers different features and benefits, so you must compare each plan before agreeing to pay for coverage. Ensure that you choose the option that allows you to continue seeing the doctor you have been seeing.
Review your insurance plan annually to see which prescriptions are covered. Medicines that are covered may change occasionally. It is better to know in advance and not be surprised at the checkout counter of your pharmacy.
If you do not visit the doctor often, it would be wise for you to open your own Health Savings Account (HSA). Any dollars you save towards deductibles, premiums and copays can get saved in an HSA and applied towards future medical expenses.
Read your bills when they arrive. Even when you have a health insurance plan, you might be surprised at the bills you encounter, especially with prescription medication. Sometimes, doctors will write a prescription and won’t consider a generic version. Also, shop around. The price of medication can be different at each pharmacy.
Current Policy
When you switch policies, get all your facts from your current policy. Some of the things you need to know include: deductible rates, types of medical costs covered, annual payment rates, etc. Hang onto all this for your records, along with the information from your current policy to use, when searching for another policy.
Looking at both group and individual health insurance, you will see that group rates are generally cheaper. However, you might also find that an individual plan gives you more options. Regardless of what you choose, just make sure that you have coverage of some type. Going without health insurance in this day and age could be financially catastrophic. Some thing can go wrong at anytime, leaving you with large bills that could wipe out your savings. Research your options, and get coverage!
