There have been cases of workers sending requests to their respective providers to block these offers on their PC's and mobiles.
What happens is that when there is a glut of information available and when it comes to choosing your lesser-of-evils healthcare options, you may lose sight of your main objective, which is to evaluate, which is the plan best suited for you and for which you will get maximum value-for-money when you need it the most, that is when you are sick. Also remember, health coverage is not expensive because it costs a lot of money, it is expensive if it does not adequately cover your expenses when you need it most.
Healthcare policies are crucial. Considerable care and thought has to be given to it before you take the plunge. What then are the factors and criterion that should guide your decisions? Here are a few basic guidelines that you will do well to adopt.
Biggest Does Not Mean Best - Small Can Also Be Good
The first thought crosses the mind when you are looking for a policy is to find one that will address healthcare's escalating costs. However, your prime motivation should be quality of care before anything else. Returns should not be only in tangible terms of cash in hand, it should also mean that it should come to you speedily, without you going through any stress or anxiety. Optimal money is not the requirement, optimal care is.
You could work in reverse gear if you want a provider of your choice. Go to the practitioner of your choice and ask them what insurance companies they recognize. Take it a little more forward. Go to the National Committee for Quality Assurance and check out your employers past records. Keep in mind that this group gets some funding from healthcare companies.
The State Insurance Department has a list of complaints against health plans. Checking them out, will prove beneficial and apprise you of what can go wrong.
Reject Plans that Don't Include Wellness and Prevention
Wellness programs and health coverage for preventive care are garnering a lot of interest and awareness and is on the incline, yet many health plans avoid them. Only the top 10 percent of the country's health plans provides disease-prevention and wellness programs and best-practice treatments. If all health plans, equaled the health commitments of these top ten percent, probably 81,000 less people will die each year. So it is evident that the quality of these programs is a matter of life and death.
Irrespective of which plan you choose, ensure that is covers prevention. Rather than taking care of a condition after it has progressed, preventive care focuses on preventing the disease from occurring.
Calculate the Costs:
How much will it cost? It is important that you consider the costs before you take the policy. But there are lots of things to consider. Don't just take your payroll deductions into account. Calculate all these probable costs that could negatively impact your costs and reflect a much higher figure than what you had initially calculated.
The factors to take into account are 1) Deductibles, 2) Copayments, 3) Coinsurance, 4) Optimum self-incurred expenses and last but not the least, 5) Healthcare Services that the insurer does not provide.
Ask your company for any easy to understand financial model that will help you estimate your yearly costs on your chosen plan. Compare it with other plans and check out the differences.
Also remember small but vital points. If you are opting for a consumer-driven healthcare plan, don't forget that you'll be paying from your own pocket and if you plan to open a tax-advantaged health savings account to pay your out-of-pocket expenses, check out how much of the money you don't use will be rolled over or will it be forfeited.
When emergencies don't arise insurance seems an unnecessary added expense, but if the need ever arises, and more often than not, it does arise, then the importance and prudence of fore-thought will hit home and you will be glad that you had taken the policy. Your idyllic life is the result of perseverance and sustained effort, so why leave financial security to fate.
Your saving, investing and planning for the morrow, will not amount to much if it's taken away owing to an out of the blue emergency. Insurance will provide you with that security blanket; give it the respect that it deserves.
