6 Snares to Avoid When Choosing Individual Health Plans
Individual health plans allow customers to take charge of their medical care.
However, customers won't be able to rely on their employers to pick high-quality coverage on their behalf.
In order to pick the best policies, customers should make sure to avoid these six major traps.
1) Customers may choose the wrong kind of health insurance.
HMOs are the most restrictive but are also the least expensive.
PPOs and POSs provide customers with more choices of doctors and allow them to see specialists without a referral from their primary care physician.
Customers will pay a higher premium for POS and PPO coverage in exchange for this increased freedom in choosing a doctor or specialist.
2) The increased premium for individual plans is unnecessary.
For customers who have a serious pre-existing condition, premiums may be higher for a non-group health plan.
However, for healthy customers, premiums for individual coverage should actually be lower.
Customers can end up paying far more than they should if they fail to shop around for the best premiums.
3) Customers need to know what their deductible is.
In order to keep costs low, many non-group plans have higher deductibles.
Therefore, policy holders should know their deductible and ensure that they can pay that deductible if an emergency strikes.
A lot of money will be saved for customers with sufficient savings and are able choose to cover high deductibles.
However, if customers do not have as much cash on hand, then they should opt for a lower deductible and a higher premium.
4) The ability to personalize their policy is something the customer should have.
Some individual plans pay for preventive care and catastrophic care only.
Other policies may require approval from a primary care physician before the patient can look into any other medical services.
The best insurers offer many options for care that allow individuals to create the plan that best suits their needs.
The customer should continue searching if an insurer offers no customization opportunities with their policies.
5) Policy holders may already have a doctor that they trust.
However, doctors may not accept their new insurance plans.
Therefore, patients should check with their doctors' offices to guarantee that the doctors will accept their new insurance.
Or, if policy holders don't have a current doctor, they should call several area doctors to guarantee that doctors are accepting patients under the new plan.
It is not helpful for any policy holder to have a less expensive health insurance plan if no area doctor will accept it.
6) Checking pharmacy benefits is crucial for patients who take medications regularly.
Patients will want to know if their medications or acceptable generic alternatives are on the formulary for their new health plan.
Patients will also want to find out if the new plan has an annual maximum coverage limit for drug benefits as set by the insurance company.
In many cases, individual health plans will help customers save money while receiving a higher standard of care.
However, applying for individual coverage places more responsibility on the shoulders of the customer.
Customers should make sure to do their homework before signing up for any insurance policy.
Sometimes, the cheapest coverage isn't always the best coverage.
However, customers won't be able to rely on their employers to pick high-quality coverage on their behalf.
In order to pick the best policies, customers should make sure to avoid these six major traps.
1) Customers may choose the wrong kind of health insurance.
HMOs are the most restrictive but are also the least expensive.
PPOs and POSs provide customers with more choices of doctors and allow them to see specialists without a referral from their primary care physician.
Customers will pay a higher premium for POS and PPO coverage in exchange for this increased freedom in choosing a doctor or specialist.
2) The increased premium for individual plans is unnecessary.
For customers who have a serious pre-existing condition, premiums may be higher for a non-group health plan.
However, for healthy customers, premiums for individual coverage should actually be lower.
Customers can end up paying far more than they should if they fail to shop around for the best premiums.
3) Customers need to know what their deductible is.
In order to keep costs low, many non-group plans have higher deductibles.
Therefore, policy holders should know their deductible and ensure that they can pay that deductible if an emergency strikes.
A lot of money will be saved for customers with sufficient savings and are able choose to cover high deductibles.
However, if customers do not have as much cash on hand, then they should opt for a lower deductible and a higher premium.
4) The ability to personalize their policy is something the customer should have.
Some individual plans pay for preventive care and catastrophic care only.
Other policies may require approval from a primary care physician before the patient can look into any other medical services.
The best insurers offer many options for care that allow individuals to create the plan that best suits their needs.
The customer should continue searching if an insurer offers no customization opportunities with their policies.
5) Policy holders may already have a doctor that they trust.
However, doctors may not accept their new insurance plans.
Therefore, patients should check with their doctors' offices to guarantee that the doctors will accept their new insurance.
Or, if policy holders don't have a current doctor, they should call several area doctors to guarantee that doctors are accepting patients under the new plan.
It is not helpful for any policy holder to have a less expensive health insurance plan if no area doctor will accept it.
6) Checking pharmacy benefits is crucial for patients who take medications regularly.
Patients will want to know if their medications or acceptable generic alternatives are on the formulary for their new health plan.
Patients will also want to find out if the new plan has an annual maximum coverage limit for drug benefits as set by the insurance company.
In many cases, individual health plans will help customers save money while receiving a higher standard of care.
However, applying for individual coverage places more responsibility on the shoulders of the customer.
Customers should make sure to do their homework before signing up for any insurance policy.
Sometimes, the cheapest coverage isn't always the best coverage.
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