Choosing Benefits To Meet Your Needs
Word on the street is that health care costs will rise about 8 to 12% this year. When your health insurance premium renewal comes due, first scan the increase in cost, which may not seem what you expected, then scrutinize the policy documents because you may not be getting the benefits you think you are.
Word on the street is that health care costs will rise about 8 to 12% this year. When your health insurance premium renewal comes due,
first scan the increase in cost, which may not seem what you expected, then scrutinize the policy documents because you may not be getting the benefits you think you are.
Many companies and health insurance companies have worked hard to hide the cost increases from you. Now you may be wondering how the cost of your health insurance is going up but you are not feeling the pinch and the answer is actually quite simple, they are tricking you. That's right. They are essentially handing you a policy that looks very similar the one you have had in years past but take a closer look.
Your new policy may have more exclusions and other things that will let the health insurance company off the hook from having to pay for things like hospitalizations or emergency care. But that's not all because you will probably find that your deductible has increased dramatically and some health insurance companies have even raised the cost of your health care by changing your $25.00 co-pay amount to a 25% co-insurance payment which means a lot more out of your pocket.
There are other things to consider as well like your co-pay amount for prescriptions may have increased as well as your out of pocket expense for emergency room visits. All in all your policy has gone up in cost and in exchange your employer and health insurance company have decided to keep the costs down by taking away many of your benefits. Deciding for you what you can live without in the coming year.
Don't be too discouraged though, some of the items reduced in order to keep premium affordable may not pertain to your particular situation. A suggestion would be to look at the medical expenses that you have incurred over the last couple of years and take an average to see how much medical coverage you really do need. You may be surprised that you can live without the all the exclusions and lesser co- pays.
