Do not approach health insurance with fear. It is true the field is complex and your options are many, but the more you learn, the safer you will feel. Health insurance is similar to healthcare itself. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. By making smart choices when you select health insurance, you can avoid difficulties in the future.
Health Insurance
If you just graduated from college, and you need health insurance, you have a couple of different options to think about. You may be able to get health insurance from your employer, if you have one. You can also be listed under your parents’ policy until you turn twenty-six, or look into personal plans.
Look at your personal health insurance needs when it’s open enrollment time. What worked in the past may not now, particularly if your personal health may have changed or if you added someone to your policy. If your employer also offers vision and dental insurance, you should review that also during open enrollment.
It is wise to look over your prescription insurance plan at least once a year. Due to changing costs in drugs, health insurance companies tend to make changes in the prescriptions that they will cover for their customers from year to year. You may need to request an updated list from your insurance company. If a medication you rely on daily is not covered anymore, you may need to find a new insurance carrier.
Check the state and federal tax guidelines to determine which medical costs can be deducted on your tax return. Your health insurance premiums are tax deductible. The money you pay for deductibles, visits or prescriptions that aren’t covered by insurance are also deductible. State taxes differ than federal, so you may want to check those guidelines.
Understand that every health insurance policy has loopholes. Check over your policy with great care, so that you know what it will, and will not pay for. Be ready to take care of the cost for specific procedures and medications that insurance will not cover.
No matter what, you will save money by buying generics over brand name 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.
Find the health insurance for your needs. There are PPO, POS and HMO plans to choose from. Check out the different options for each before you decide which one is best. You should have the choice to keep your current doctor.
Make sure the doctors and medical facilities you routinely use recognize the insurance you are considering before you sign up with the plan. Most insurance companies will have a published list of doctors that are covered. It can be as simple as going to the insurance providers website and doing a search to find them.
In some cases, insurance companies will charge you extra for adding your spouse to your plan if he has the option of getting insurance through work. It may actually be more affordable to have separate coverage through your respective employers, so make sure to calculate both scenarios.
Group Insurance
Being in a group insurance plan is much cheaper than if you were to purchase insurance by yourself. This is the reason why the rates seem lesser when you get it through your job. A great way to get group insurance rates is to become a member of a trade organization with the option for insurance.
Take note of your bills. Even when covered by a full-fledged medical plan, the bills that pop up can catch you off guard, especially in regards to prescriptions. Doctors often prescribe brand-name medication with no thought to offering you the generic version. Also, shop around. Even pharmacies in close proximity to one another can have varying costs for the same generic prescriptions.
When you get injured or ill, that isn’t the time to start finding where your health insurance policy is lacking. Be prepared by knowing as much as you can about insurance and also by knowing all the choices you have. Going without health insurance is very risky, but you can remedy that at any point in time.
