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Tricks for Comparing Health Insurance

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

When it comes to health insurance, finding the best policy is not always an easy task. A number of things should be researched before making a decision on any coverage. The following are features to consider when comparing health insurance and trying to find the right plan.

Who Will Be Your Physician?

Who Will Be Your Physician? photo credit: heipei

Some plans offer a specific network of physicians and will cover little to none of the expenses of a physician out of the network. If all other features of a plan are favorable, maybe considering a new physician wouldn’t be difficult for some people. Those who see a specialist may not be able to choose the same plan if the specialist they see isn’t in the plan’s network of physicians.

What About Emergency Room and Hospital Visits?

What About Emergency Room and Hospital Visits? photo credit: irrezolut

When comparing health insurance plans, some plans only cover visits to certain hospitals. It is a good idea to be informed of the plan’s definition of an emergency. Any visits determined not to fit into this definition may not be covered under the plan.

How Much Are Monthly Premiums and Deductibles?

The most expensive plans may not necessarily be the best for everyone. Most experts advise against purchasing the cheapest plan but rather purchasing one that is midway between the most expensive and the least expensive. People should also be aware of how much deductible they will have to pay before insurance coverages begins.

Prescription Costs and Copayments

Prescription Costs and Copayments photo credit: Purple Penning

Some plans require prescription deductibles to be paid separately from the insurance deductible. Some cover the total cost of prescriptions while others require different copayments depending on the drug prescribed. The extra cost of prescriptions should be figured into the total cost of the health plan before making a decision.

How Much Are Copayments for Physician Visits?

Some plans may require a smaller copayment or even no copayment for certain types of medical visits, and a larger copayment for others. The copayment amount may also depend on whether the visit is with a regular physician or a specialist.

Are Pre-Existing Conditions Covered?

It is important for those with certain health conditions to find out if a prospective health plan covers pre-existing conditions before choosing the plan. It is possible for some conditions to be covered after a certain amount of time even if they aren’t covered in the beginning.

Additional Services That May Be Covered

Each individual should research the additional services provided by each plan to find the coverage they need. Some plans may include maternity, dental or vision coverage at no extra cost while others require a higher monthly premium to include any additional services.

Comparing health insurance requires careful research. Each person must find the plan that best fits his or her health needs, prescription needs and financial situation. Taking the time to check out every aspect of a plan while keeping in mind the health needs it should meet will help narrow down the best plans available.

Melissa Johnson

References:
1. 10 Key Considerations When Comparing Health Care Plans. Sage, Bobbie. http://personalinsure.about.com/cs/healthinsurance1/a/aa070703a.htm.
2. How to Compare Health Insurance Plans. www.wahm.com/articles/how-to-compare-health-insurance-plans.html.

Posted in Health Comparisons, Insurance Tips | No Comments »

7 Companies Offering Health Care Benefits to Part-Time Workers

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

For the most part, if you are not a full-time employee, you have no option for health insurance coverage. However, some of the more renowned companies do offer insurance coverage to their part-time employees.

Below are seven companies offering health care coverage to their part-time employees:

Part-Time Workers
photo credit: carianoff

Starbucks

Starbuck’s program (benefits package) offers complete health care for the full-time and part-time partners (employees) that are eligible, to be eligible, a partner has to work approximately 20 hours weekly, a competitive starting wage, a savings plan in the form of a 401(k) where the employer matches the partner’s contribution, stock in the company, short-term disability, tuition reimbursement, paid time off (vacation) and discounts on the company’s products.

Target

After six months, the ‘team members’ at Target working at least two and half days per week, are eligible to receive health care coverage. Erin Madsen, who is the spokeswoman for Target, stated that Target is ’very proud’ of their current programs and medical plans. These medical plans offer 100% coverage on recommended preventative care with no lifetime maximums, as well as, no pre-existing conditions.

Whole Foods

The team members at Whole Foods are scheduled to work in excess of 20 hours weekly, but no more than 30 hours a week become eligible for medical insurance benefits after meeting particular thresholds related to their service hours.

A team member must work 30 hours weekly to be considered a full-time employee. Part-time team members are eligible for other benefits that include a store discount of 20% and paid time off. Those team members who decide to participate in the ‘healthy discount incentive program’ for team members can receive another 10% off of their store discount.

Land’s End

It is anticipated that Land’s End will employ roughly 2,700 employees for the holiday season. These new employees will work in the call center and the distribution centers of the company. Many of these part-time employees will receive vision, dental and even life insurance benefits.

Lands’ End offers seasonal and ongoing part-time employees vision, dental and life insurance coverage options. The seasonal and part-time hourly requirements depend on each of the different department’s policies.

UPS

Hourly employees are offered full benefits with UPS. These benefits include tuition assistance as well as medical and dental coverage.

Most of the positions that are part-time are covered under a collective bargaining agreement. The benefits for health and wellness may not actually begin for part-time employees until 12 months after their date of hire. These benefits are not available to the temporary seasonal workers that only work for the four to eight weeks of the peak holiday season.

Home Depot

The spokesman for Home Depot, Stephen Holmes has stated that they company offers its part-time associates who have been employed with the company for no less than 90 days vision, dental and some medical benefits. This also includes an option for a critical illness.

Costco

Employees that work part-time at Costco may be eligible for medical and dental health care. The part-time employees need to work an average of 20 hours per week after being employed for 180 days.

Employees may also have the ability to use the company’s in-house optical centers for their vision care. Costco also offers a discounted co-payment pharmacy program when using the in-house pharmacy. Some of the generic medication co-pays are only $5, the brand name co-pays are typically capped at 15%.

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Top 10 Reasons to Have Health Insurance

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

Although a good chunk of the population is convinced that having health insurance is smart, some people stay may ponder how important it really is. For those who are contemplating health insurance, or already have it but think it’s worthless, below are the top 10 reasons to have health insurance.

Medical Care is Expensive:
Although even uninsured patients will receive care when sitting an emergency room, when it comes to surgery and or physical therapy, sometimes patients can be turned away without proof of insurance.

Medical Care is Expensive
photo credit: vxla

Before It’s Too Late:
If you are uninsured and diagnosed with a serious medical condition or disease, finding a health insurance company will be much more difficult, not to mention more expensive.

Before It's Too Late
photo credit: Images_of_Money

Options:
All hospitals accept insured patients, but not all accept uninsured patients. Having health insurance gives you more choices.

Options
photo credit: prayitno

Top Priority:
Often, patients with health insurance are put at the top of the list when it comes to surgery, care, etc. The hospital knows that those patients will pay, meaning that they’re more eager to provide care.

Top Priority
photo credit: subewl

Keeping Your Home:
Uninsured individuals who don’t pay their bills may be at risk of losing their homes as hospitals can place a lien on property.

Keeping Your Home
photo credit: l . e . o

Worry Free:
There’s no point in worrying that something will happen and you’ll be unable to pay medical bills. Health insurance takes the worry away, you can sleep well at night knowing that if something were to happen, you’d be covered.

Worry Free
photo credit: Ashley Campbell Photography

Your Family:
Think about what would happen to your family if you were sick and unable to medical bills. Would that put them in harm’s way financially?

Your Family
photo credit: kellyv

Requirements:
Some colleges, jobs, and other institutions may require you to show proof of health insurance.

Requirements
photo credit: IvanWalsh.com

Better Advice:
With health insurance, you can rest assured that any advice you receive from doctors and other health care professionals will be good and not jaded due to your lack of finances.

Better Advice
photo credit: kevindooley

You Have a Better Chance of Living:
Your chances of survival from a serious accident or sickness are better if you have health insurance as you’ll receive better care.

You Have a Better Chance of Living
photo credit: sekushy

These are only the top 10 reasons to have health insurance and there are numerous other reasons. Why put yourself at risk without it?

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Employees See Obamacare Sticker Shock During Open Enrollment

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Even though many of the provisions of the health care reform law have yet to be enacted, employers are making significant adjustments to their health insurance offerings in anticipation of the law’s financial impact on their bottom line. Now, eight months after the passage of the controversial Affordable Health Care Act, employees are experiencing its affects on their own bottom line with this year’s open enrollment period.

The cost of providing health care coverage has been increasing steadily for many years, but employers are anticipating a spike in costs and are reacting to some of the Act’s new requirements such as the extension of coverage to employees’ children to age 26.

Most employers are doing all that they can to continue to provide the most comprehensive coverage at the lowest possible cost; however, many are employing outside-the-box tactics to get the most for their health insurance costs. As a result, employees will be faced with new, and sometimes difficult, choices this year. Here are some of the changes you might see in your open enrollment options along with some ways to optimize them for your benefit.

Increased Employee Share of Insurance Costs

Employee contributions towards premium and co-payment costs have been increasing for a while, and that trend will continue with some plans seeing a sharper increase this year. This is comes at a time when employee wages have generally been stagnant, so it will be more of a financial strain than usual. Some employees may also find that their out-of-pocket maximums have been increased as well as their deductibles.

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Tags: employer provided coverage, health care costs, obamacare, open enrollment, sticker shock
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Health Care Prices: Can Consumers Control Costs?

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

Over the last decade, a major shift has occurred that has consumers more engaged in managing their own health care costs. The advent of Health Savings Accounts (HSA) coupled with High Deductible Health Insurance Plans (HDHP), an increasingly popular health insurance plan, has created a wave of consumer price consciousness in the realm of health care and medical services. The notion of “price shopping” medical services, once thought impractical or even impossible, is fast becoming the norm for millions of Americans who finally understand that they have some “skin in the game.”

Top health care experts and the medical community have been lamenting for years that one of the primary reasons health care costs have spun out of control is due to the disconnect between consumers and the actual costs of medical care. Employer-provided health insurance, the primary source of health care coverage for the majority of Americans, has created a buffer between covered employees and the prices that are charged and then reimbursed by insurance companies. The unintended result is that medical costs are not consumer driven; rather they are a product of negotiation between what the insurance companies are willing to pay and what medical community is hoping to get for its services.

Health Care Consumers Hold the Key to Price Pressure

A big part of the solution for bending the cost curve on health care costs, according to the experts, is to get more consumers engaged directly in the supply and demand dynamic of health care services. Until the recent movement towards HDHP plans, there has been little incentive for the consumer to do so. Now, with HSA/HDHP plans that require the consumer to invest more personal dollars into their coverage, they are paying much more attention. With an HAS, individuals are allowed to contribute tax deductible funds to a savings account that may be accessed to pay for qualified medical expenses. The individuals bear theses costs until the deductible on their HDHP is met.

The key to making the HSA/HDHP work is through increasing the transparency of hospital and doctor pricing on services provided, and that is still an uphill battle. In their attempts to shop services and compare prices, consumers are thwarted by the complexity and unresponsiveness of the medical community that has, heretofore, not really had to deal with the consumer directly. Consumers looking for price estimates on services are often given vague and sometimes conflicting responses if they get them at all.

More recently, several resources have become available that enable consumers to more easily compare pricing among major health care providers. Some websites have popped up that act as a “blue book” for medical services and provide consumers with some basis for negotiating prices. As the movement towards consumer-driven health care pricing continues, we should see more of these resources become available.

The trend towards consumer-based health care has been a positive development in controlling the cost curve of medical costs. There is evidence that even the medical community and the insurance companies see the ultimate benefit. The only potential obstacle for consumer-based, HSA/HDHP may be the new health care reform law which layers on requirements and regulations that would make it difficult for insurance providers to offer them.

photo credit: {Guerrilla Futures | Jason Tester}

Posted in health care, Health Insurance Politics, Insurance Tips, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Comparing Health Options: Primary Care vs Specialist Care

Friday, June 25th, 2010

The American College of Physicians suggests that you opt out of specialist care and go for the primary care physician. Of course, health insurance companies will love for you to do that, too!

When it comes to choosing between a primary care physician (PCP) or a specialist, you’re often caught between two differing perspectives: 1. You choose the primary care physician for their knowledge of your other conditions, their wide-ranging experience, and their relative low expense when compared to specialists, OR 2. You choose a specialist because of their in-depth understanding of a particular condition and their track record treating a condition. In most cases a PCP will offer personalized health care, while a specialist will generally be less patient-facing.

What does the American College of Physicians suggest? The group believes the feds should pay more upfront for primary care, because doing so would lower costs in the long run by preventing expensive complications and helping patients to avoid hospitalization.

Weighing the Pros and Cons when Making Health Care Choices

Let’s take a look first at the good side to this proposed idea. If more money is given to primary care to begin with, rather than reimbursements later, then people would be getting the best in first-round care right away. Like noted above, this might help stave off the need to even be seen by specialists, if problems are addressed quickly and nipped in the bud before specialists need to step in.

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Tags: health care, health insurance, pcp, physicians, primary care, specalist care
Posted in Health Comparisons, Health Research, Insurance Tips | 2 Comments »

COBRA Subsidies Have Expired

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

American Unemployment Rate

Bad news if you’re about to become unemployed: COBRA health coverage is no longer cheap. After more than a year of expanded federal subsidies for COBRA, congress allowed the help to expire on June 1st.

In March of 2009, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, COBRA health coverage costs were cut by 65% with the help of the federal government. This meant that the average family in California only had to pay about $390 for coverage – a far cry from the average cost of around $1,107 before the subsidy (according to a Families USA study).

Now that COBRA help has expired, you’re left with two options for individual or family health insurance:

Pay the full cost of COBRA coverage – which is basically the same coverage you received from your previous employer when you worked with them. However, now that the subsidy has expired, you will need to pay the full cost – which currently averages around $1,100 for a family.
Opt for an affordable alternative to COBRA. You can request a free quote for health insurance here to see if you can save money with a private alternative.

COBRA Insurance Extension “Unlikely”

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said in a statement that “if the [COBRA] extension is not approved immediately, millions of Americans could lose the safety-net programs they deserve and desperately need.” Unfortunately, congress is in a cost-cutting mood, so they’re not likely to extend COBRA subsidies.

CNN estimates that nearly 10 million people are collecting unemployment insurance, and 46% of the 15.3 million jobless Americans have remained unemployed for six months or longer. Despite a comprehensive health reform bill, COBRA coverage remains as expensive as it always has been, and the government is no longer willing to subsidize its costs.

Posted in Health Insurance Politics, Insurance Tips, Unemployment & Insurance | No Comments »

You Can Find Affordable Health Insurance!