Making the most of your health benefits
November 9th, 2016This is the time of year that most of us select from a dizzying array of health insurance options and receive information from our employer’s HR department about all of them. Here are some tips:
- Don’t wait till the last minute, make sure you look through each plan carefully. Insurance plans vary greatly and choosing the wrong one may impact you in a big way financially.
- If you have children/dependents or are taking expensive medications you generally should avoid CDHP’s (consumer drive health plans). These plans have very high deductibles, which means you will be be paying out for everything until you hit that deductible. Though CDHP’s usually have a FSA (which is an account that you can spend for health expenses), the typical visit to an ER or specialist will eat that up pretty quickly.
- Think about how you use the healthcare system now, and your anticipated needs in the future. Do you go to the doctor for a sneeze, coughs, and colds? Do you plan to have elective surgery done in the coming year? If so, you need to pick a plan that will cover these.
- Do you want to stay with your current primary care doctor? You always want to make sure your medical providers accept your insurance. If you insurance company suddenly drops your doctor, you may be left with a large bill since your provider is now “out of network”. Also, if you plan to change doctors, you need to call that doctor’s office to see if they take the insurance to which you are switching.
For more detailed information, the New York Times article,titled “How to Pick a Health Plan” is a beautifully written article on choosing plans.
Your health is your wealth! Guard it well!
