It’s that time of year…
CYA!
Open enrollment. If you’re anything like me, it can be overwhelming. Especially if you’re self-employed or work for a small company. We don’t have a billion resources to use when navigating plan options.
This is my first year on the open market, and I was so very grateful when UnitedHealthcare reached out with a ton of supporting materials. I’m guessing some of you are in the same boat, so I agreed to take a day off from our regularly scheduled sarcasm to share some of their resources.
1. The Affordable Care Act (ACA)
The more you know, the better prepared you’ll be to make decisions about your coverage. A lot has changed in health care in the past few years. The ACA has raised the Medicaid limits in some states so more are eligible and is offering subsidies to eligible income levels above medicaid but still in the realm of struggling. Here’s a video to help navigate open enrollment and comparing plans:
http://youtu.be/Igp97pWt6pc?list=PL70F9953E8D57FC42
Basically, you need to use the time of open enrollment to get the right health plan in place for you and your family. Find a plan between Nov 15 and Feb 15 to have coverage from the marketplace in 2015. There are certain qualifying events that allow you to use a special enrollment period. Picture Travelocity. The exchanges or the marketplace is a website that allows you to compare plans from a bunch of providers like Travelocity does with hotels. This website will be either the government Healthcare.gov website or your state’s individual marketplace website.
2. Planning Components – Know What You’re Buying!
You know you need it… but what exactly are you buying? Insurance is cheaper if you’re healthy. As such, preventative care and other measures are being covered by insurance more often now.
Health plans are annual and there are only a few ways to switch, whether a major life event occurred or its open enrollment time. It’s important to look at deductibles, co-pays, premiums and maximum out-of-pocket as well as the what is covered when comparing health plans. Think about your family and what kinds of things you see doctors for, get prescriptions for, or have operations for. Do you want a co-pay? How much? What’s the right deductible level for you? Your health insurance costs are affected by how much coverage, deductibles, and co-pays you take. Here are a couple of videos that help break it down:
3. Super… But What Does All of This Mean?
All of this health care research can be overwhelming…. deductibles, premiums, co-insurance, EOB, PPO… it is a big decision!
Don’t worry! Here’s a glossary of terms:
http://youtu.be/ILviKDZmZwg?list=PL70F9953E8D57FC42
4. How Can You Get the Most From Your Health Plan?
Hopefully you have a better idea now about health care and what’s involved in the shopping process, but how can you capitalize on it in order to get the most out of your health care plan? Costs within health care can be daunting, and you don’t want to be paying for things you’ll never use.
- Check your deductible and out-of-pockets on a regular basis to stay ahead.
- When deciding on a plan, look for value adds provided by the company such as nurse lines, apps, and health club discounts too!
- Make sure to ask you Doctor how much medical tests will cost and if there are less costly alternatives.
Here are a couple more video links to help:
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I’m about to start this process today… with my new employee… it’s intimidating, but being covered is marvelous!
Are you changing things up this year? Have you in the past?
What’s the health benefit you use the most?
ahh I need need need to put ME FIRST and get to the EYE DOCTOR.
STAT.
um.. i’m still confused by it all. and you just reminded me i need to see the eye doc too! AHHH!
Uhhhhhhh… ditto on the eye doc.
Just re-enrolled with the ACA last week and I’m so happy that our monthly out-of-pocket expenses are going DOWN!
For real?! That’s like unheard of.
Just got the info this weekend about our plan’s changes for next year. Now to figure out if it’s worth changing…
Good info this can all be so confusing at times.
Thx Laura! I was thankful for the Affordable Care act! For those left in the middle, self employed & others – so needed. WE got good care for close to $400 less than it would have cost before this act! WE renewed with what we did last time & for us as seniors, it can be expensive without this plus we qualified for assistance too. I was without for lots of years till this passed.
I’m so glad it helped you! I think it’s great, but people are confused.
I just registered last week with my new company. It’s so overwhelming reading & interpreting everything!
Health Insurance is very overhwhelming! I need to get a new policy so this was very helpful.
I’m very lucky to have always had great companies with great insurance options. 🙂 This is how I pay for my preventative maintenance sports chiro appointments. 🙂
SO jealous of that.
great post! I’m actually learning a lot of this stuff in my community health class! It’s good to be aware of the upcoming changes in health care!
My company offers pretty good insurance and they cover a bulk of it so that takes a load off. They offer HDHP so the deductibles are higher than most but we have HSA’s as well and they contribute money into it plus you can (and should) contribute as well. Overall, my plan covers a buck load so I’m pretty happy with our insurance. We are currently with United Health Care but are moving to Cigna in January; still same coverage just diff company. My doc take it so I’m good. 🙂 Have a great one and happy elections Laura! -Iva
Right now I am currently just on my parent’s health care plan through my mother’s work with Walmart. BUT! I know this is something I will have to take a bigger look into in the future. Co-pays, deductibles…they all confuse me! So a guide like this can come in handy. Thanks for the tips!
Being self employed and having to pay for my own health care for years cost me a fortune. But it was totally worth it!
Oh man… I bet! But yeah… it can save ya!
I have had the same insurance for years and there have been times when I want to cancel it. I hate paying for it haha