Today, we will discuss important things that you may want to use to your advantage when shopping for
health insurance.
if you offer the health insurance plan along with other employee benefits at work, well good for you and
you can still benefit from the information presented in this article.
So, whether you are comparing plans offered by your employer, or buying an
individual insurance plan yourself, please take full advantage of this
information, as it could save you big bucks during the open enrollment and allow you to select
a good health insurance plan for the entire year.
Well, health care in the united states has its merits and flaws.
However, it’s a no-brainer to me that everyone really needs to have health insurance.
if you don’t have a health insurance plan, that could be a financial risk for obvious reasons.
So, let’s go over 10 important things to look for when choosing a health insurance plan.
first of all, mark your calendar with the dates when the open enrollment is active in your state.
this is the only time when you can apply for health insurance, unless you qualify for a special enrollment.
in most states the open enrollment starts in november and ends in mid-december.
Although, many states have extensions and open enrollment lasts longer in California.
the open enrollment lasts for three months from november first through January 31st.
If you offered employee benefits at work, check with your HR department when is the specific open enrollment at your company.
make sure you check if you qualify for an advance premium tax credit, if you well you will be surprised how many people lose on this opportunity and don’t take full advantage of a subsidy offered via exchanges.
for example, if you reside in california and your income for a family of four is around 160k per year,
you can still qualify for a lower monthly premium.
Besides, the american rescue plan allows many individuals who never qualified for any subsidies or discounts to qualify for the first time for a reduction intheir health insurance premiums.
Ppos, hmos, well which one is best?
Um, ppo is a preferred provider organization.
Typically, the ppo health and transplants are more expensive, but those would allow you to have more flexibility.
Specifically, with the ppo plan you’re not required to select your primary care doctor, you can
go to any specialist without an appointment and you basically can go to any doctor.
Although, you will pay less if you see a doctor that’s in network with your insurance.
hmos are a bit cheaper, but with the hmo you will have to stay in network for care.
select the primary care provider and get referrals to see a specialist.
in any case, it makes sense to look at various health plans before you decide to purchase a specific one.
Also, estimate your real costs that’s very important. even though, getting a basic bronze plan with the high deductible seems smart for someone that is low risk and rarely sees a doctor, it
is a wise to look at your specific situation when determining whether a
bronze silver gold or platinum plan will work best for you.
Definitely, run a side-by-side comparison of various plans and ask yourself, how high are the monthly premiums, what are the co-payments, how high is the deductible?
what plan would make the most financial sense to get?
Also, understand the restrictions when buying a health insurance plan.
you will have to understand that certain things are not covered by medical insurance.
for adults, dental and vision insurance is not including in included in a
medical plan, so if you need it you can just edit separately.
Also, cosmetic or alternative medicine is not
covered by a medical insurance plan, so if you’re buying health insurance in
order to cover your massages, well you
will be disappointed.
those are not covered by a medical insurance plan in
the united states
also make sure you look at a major
medical insurance plan and not at some
sort of disability or other type of plan
that is not considered insurance by law
do not leave your phone number online
for salespeople to call you about health
plans this is not a good idea if you’re
looking for health insurance quotes
online and had to fill a quote from a
form or an application you know what i’m
talking about
please do yourself a favor and don’t do
this most of this cold calls come from
people that don’t even have a license
and will hard sell you something that
might not work instead
look for an independent licensed
insurance agent in your local community
who can help or go directly to the
official exchanges to run quotes um
yourself but never never give away your
phone number and email online
and get hundreds of phone calls for
nothing
check with your employer and see if they
provide employee benefits that include
health insurance most of the employers
offer a generous package to the
employees that include medical insurance
dental vision pension plans life
insurance as well as other perks if you
are offered a plan at work make sure to
take advantage of that offer as those
are typically pretty good
and the employer is required to cover at
least 50 percent of the cost
if you’re a business owner or run a
small business perhaps you may look into
the possibility to offer yourself and
your employees a health insurance
package there are certain requirements
and not all small businesses qualify for
group insurance but if you’re a small
business owner you may want to check the
requirements in your state or reach out
to certified insurance agent who can
help with group health insurance for
your corporation
if you’re self-employed you can still
take some
tax advantages and save a hundred
percent on your health insurance
premiums you may check out with your
accountant to see if you qualify
and since we’re talking about tax
advantages definitely look into the hsa
plans these are the health savings
accounts that allow you to set aside
money on a pre-tax basis to pay for
qualified
medical expenses in order to open an hsa
account by irs rules you will have to
show proof that you are enrolled in a
high deductible health insurance plan
you can’t use the money from the hsa
account to pay for the monthly premiums
but you can use to pay for co-pays
co-insurance deductible and remember
these are pre-tax money
there are rules and restrictions related
to qualifications of the hsa accounts so
do some research and see if this would
work best for you
so that’s all for now if you have
questions feel free to address it in the
comments below or reach out directly to
us we love helping people
we are an independent insurance agency
in california helping individuals
families and small businesses find
affordable health insurance plans that
would work best for them and allow them
to save money and of course if you found
this information useful please share it
and like it
we will certainly appreciate it oh and
one more thing don’t forget to share
this video with someone that you believe
might benefit from it stay healthy
you
