Archive for the ‘Health Insurance’ Category

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What to do When you Lose your Health Insurance

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Unfortunately, the reality of losing health insurance is an all too common situation in today’s economy. If your position has been eliminated or if the company is going under, your job isn’t the only thing you may face losing.

Employer-based health insurance benefits are a very important aspect of many individuals’ employments, and living without them, even for a short period of time, can be devastating for most families. From expensive prescription medications to emergency care and doctors’ visits, employer-based health insurance is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

However, if you find yourself on the verge of losing your employer-based health insurance, there are a number of options you may have:

  • COBRA - Larger companies of more than 20 employees, under a federal law, are required to offer you an extension on your health insurance of 18 months while you look for other employment. Called COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Recognition Act), this health insurance extension must be enrolled in no longer than 60 days after you lose your health insurance. Although you will enjoy the same benefits that you did under your employer health insurance plan, the costs will be significantly higher.

  • You spouse’s health insurance - For many individuals, it just makes sense to sign up for their spouse’s health insurance when they lose their coverage. Luckily, most large companies will bypass the annual enrollment time period to allow you to sign up for your spouse’s health insurance if you lose your coverage.

  • Private health insurance - For many individuals, purchasing private health insurance is often less expensive than purchasing COBRA, so you may want to consider contacting a reputable insurer and ask them for their private health insurance costs.

  • Free or lost-cost programs - If money is an issue, you may want to consider some of the free or lost-cost health insurance options. You can check with your state’s Department of Health regarding free health insurance for your children; you can also check with your state’s insurance department or consumer services department to see if your state offers lost-cost health insurance.

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Why Women May Require a Unique Health Insurance Policy

Friday, November 20th, 2009

As men and women undoubtedly have differing health concerns, risks, and needs, many experts suggest that women particularly take advantage of key strategies to find optimal coverage to maintain their health.  With issues ranging from gynecological care to potential maternity coverage, women must actively seek out policy features that align with their personal reproductive plans and goals.  As some policies offer greater contraceptive coverage benefits, while others provide individuals with more substantial labor and delivery compensation, women from all different backgrounds, ages, and agendas should personalize their plan to ensure their policy offers the most ideal benefits and protection.

Evaluating Fertility and Family Planning

Before investigating various insurance policies and options, women can begin to proactively assess their needs by evaluating their personal family and reproductive goals.

Women who plan to have children will need to take advantage of key insurance features such as:

  • Lower office visit deductibles - Since a woman’s pregnancy demands frequent checkups and routine visits, opting for a lower co-pay can help women avoid excessive appointment costs.
  • Post-delivery coverage and protection - After delivery, infants are often at risk for minor illnesses and infections. As such, a woman’s health plan should offer adequate coverage for prescriptions, examinations, and other common health concerns.

Women who have decided not to have children (either in the short term or long term), may need to find health insurance packages with more diverse features, such as:

  • Contraceptive coverage benefits - If a woman is sexually active but does not wish to conceive, then she will need to speak with her doctor about reliable methods of birth control. With a variety of choices, women can opt to undergo permanent procedures, take hormonal oral contraceptives, or utilize other methods of protection. Ideally, a policy should allow women to take advantage of her own preference or doctor recommended method; similarly, prescription co-pays should be kept to a lower rate, as contraceptives often require monthly refills / payments.
  • Health and disease screening - While all women are at risk for various types of cancer or viruses, women who are not pregnant and / or do not have kids undergo far fewer checkups than women opting to bear children. As a result, a health insurance package should allow women to meet with their OBGYN for routine breast, cervical, and general health exams. Additionally, women who are sexually active may also want to take advantage of sexually transmitted disease coverage options.

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Helping Your College Graduate Find Optimal Health Insurance Protection

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

As most common health insurance policies offer extended coverage for policy holders with children enrolled full time in school, earning a diploma may mean that your son or daughter can be exempt from your policy’s coverage.  If your son or daughter is a soon-to-be college graduate, then they made need guidance and suggestions for finding health care insurance until they are provided with coverage by a potential future employer.

Evaluate Deductible Costs and Savings

As is true with almost any insurance policy package, individuals who opt to pay for higher deductibles generally are rewarded with lower monthly payments.  In other words, if your son or daughter agrees to pay a co-pay of $50 for each doctor visit, then he or she may be able to pay lower monthly coverage costs.

To determine how much your son or daughter should agree to pay as a deductible, help them to evaluate how frequently they need to seek medical attention.  If your child has a rare history of visiting doctors’ offices and emergency rooms, then it may be ideal to opt for higher deductible amounts.  On the other hand, if your son or daughter seems to be prone to common illnesses that require professional medical support, then bargaining on a higher deductible may mean that you’re overpaying for your coverage each month.

If you’re unsure of which option is best for your son or daughter, an insurance agent can help to navigate the various choices.  Oftentimes, insurance providers allow patients to choose from a large range of deductible payments, ranging from low fees to hundreds (even thousands) of dollars for specific types of emergency-only medical care.

Evaluating the Health of the Job Market

If your son or daughter has earned their college degree in a highly marketable career-path, then you may be able to cut back on insurance costs by opting to purchase a short term coverage package.  With short term health insurance, a policy holder is able to take advantage of coverage for a set and limited period of time.  Commonly, short term packages range from anywhere between a month to a year or so.  Therefore, if your son or daughter has an array of job interviews lined up, and is prepared to dazzle potential employers with a flawless resume, then odds may be in their favor that long-term coverage is on the way!  As long as the job market is open and strong, and of course if the future employer provides health coverage for newly signed employees, then a college grad can save money by simply purchasing short term health insurance protection.

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Will Your Health Insurance Cover the Costs of Private Home Care?

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Injured, ill, or recovering from a debilitating surgery or sickness?  If you’re unable to maintain your regular daily activities and / or you’ve been forced to recover with a sustained period of bed-rest, then you may be eligible to receive private home care!  Covered by select health insurance companies, individuals can receive incredible benefits from at home care; best of all, if your health insurance covers this form of treatment, then you can recover without risking your financial savings.

What is Private Home Care?

Private home care essentially serves to allow patients to recover in the privacy of their own home, as opposed to recovering in a hospital.  Ideal candidates for private home care are often individuals with issues / health concerns such as:

  • Post-surgical patients
  • Individuals undergoing various cancer treatments
  • Debilitating injuries that restrict physical movement (ie: amputation, broken limbs, etc)
  • Elderly individuals in need of specific care and support

With private home care, certified health specialists, registered nurses, or other approved health experts can travel to your home for designated meetings or “appointments” each day / week.

Private Home Care and Health Insurance Coverage

While each health insurance company has its own policies and restrictions regarding private home care, individuals with long term health insurance may often be able to reap coverage benefits for such services.  Oftentimes, long term health insurance policies offer to cover around $150 to $200 per day for at home health care services; however, if you or a loved one does not have long term health coverage, then Medicare may still offer options for support.  Medicare will generally serve to help individuals over the age of 65 receive approximately 8 hours of private health care each day (24 hours each week in total) for a 60 day duration of time.

If you’re hoping to hire at home care for you or a loved one, begin by evaluating the current withstanding policy to find out what coverage options are available.  Also, contact various at-home health care providers to compare prices.  To help alleviate the financial burden, some at-home care service experts may allow individuals with minimal insurance (or no insurance) coverage to purchase bulk-care packages at an additional discount!

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Can a Healthier Lifestyle Lead to Lower Health Insurance Premiums?

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Although uncommon and potentially controversial, some health insurance providers have experimented with policies that offer general savings and discounts for clients with a lower body mass index (BMI).  One’s BMI, which essentially reveals their body’s muscle to fat ratio, can often inform medical experts about an individual’s potential risks for obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, and other related illnesses.  As a higher BMI may potentially help providers determine an individual’s anticipated insurance costs, some providers are hoping to motivate clients to engage in healthier daily habits in order to gain increased wellness and savings benefits.

Health and the Cost of Care

As Americans are reporting a rising number of obesity related illnesses and deaths each year, many experts argue that individuals with less than ideal lifestyle habits should ultimately pay more for insurance coverage.  According to medical studies, a BMI between 19 and 25 is considered to be generally healthy, while a BMI of 30 or more classifies individuals as “obese.”  Those whose BMI rank between 26-29 are labeled as “overweight.”  Currently, an estimated 1/3 of Americans fall into the “obese” category, while a large portion of Americans are medically labeled as “overweight.”

Because the health risks associated with obesity can result in the need for an increased number of medical tests, prescription drug treatments, and / or other costly services, some insurance providers are seeking to balance the costs for coverage by charging individuals with a higher BMI greater premium prices.

While many argue that this practice is an unreasonable invasion of personal privacy, as one’s BMI can be influenced by both genetic factors as well as lifestyle choices, proponents of this new insurance calculation undoubtedly disagree.  As obtaining information of a patient’s BMI would potentially require health insurance companies to access each client’s personal medical charts and histories, many assert that insurance leaders are obtrusively overstepping their boundaries of coverage and care.  On the other hand, advocates supporting this alternative method of pricing assert that charging higher premiums for individuals with greater health risks helps to more reasonably even out the costs of health care for all Americans.

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Divorced and Uninsured? Take Immediate Steps to Protect Your Health and Well Being

Friday, October 9th, 2009

If you are currently going through a divorce or planning a separation, don’t neglect your own health and well being by ignoring responsible health insurance measures.  Specifically, if you and your spouse do not have children, then you may very likely wind up without health insurance coverage if you do not pro-actively find out how the divorce will impact your insurance benefits.

Uninsured Spouses of Divorce

If your soon-to-be ex-spouse was the primary health insurance carrier during your marriage, you have an array of options to protect yourself from the potential devastation associated with a loss of insurance.  Comparatively, as millions of Americans are currently un-insured, some individuals going through a divorce struggle to cope when neither the husband nor wife held health insurance coverage.  Whether or not your spouse was insured or uninsured is typically irrelevant; as individuals separating from their husband or wife can choose common pathways to protect their well being with temporary or reduced-cost health insurance plans.

The Steps to Health Insurance Protection Amidst a Divorce

  • Step 1 - If you are employed, ask your human resources representative if health insurance policies are offered through your employer.  If so, find out how and when you can receive coverage.

  • Step 2 - If you are not employed, or if your employer does not offer health care benefits, then find out if you can continue health insurance coverage through COBRA.  COBRA is considered to be a relatively affordable health insurance option for qualified individuals.  Generally, COBRA is a potential option for individuals whose ex-spouse formerly acted as the primary carrier of health insurance for their husband / wife.
  • Step 3 - If you are not eligible for COBRA insurance, investigate affordable emergency health insurance plans.  Emergency insurance plans, also commonly referred to as short-term health insurance policies, protect individuals from experiencing a lapse in coverage.  As a result, if an accident tor serious health emergency arises after one’s previous health coverage has been ceased, the emergency insurance will protect an individual from serious harm and loss.  Specifically, if you are employed and your employer can provide you with coverage, then emergency plans can protect you during the time your ex-spouse’s coverage ends until your new  (employer provided) coverage begins.

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Extending Health Insurance Benefits for Children During a Divorce

Monday, October 5th, 2009

There’s no doubt about it - enduring the many challenges and changes of a divorce can be incredibly stressful, painful, and exhausting.  One of the most potentially confusing elements of a divorce can be how to split up health insurance benefits with out sacrificing coverage and cost.  As many divorcing couples often fear for their own health and wellbeing, as well as their children’s health protection, ensuring that your health insurance is consistently reliable is absolutely imperative.

Divorce, Children, and Health Insurance

Separating From a Primary Policy Holder

While divorce and separations can cause a great deal of pain and tension between a husband and wife, experts recommend that any bitterness or anger be set aside when it comes to determining the division of health benefits.  As children should undoubtedly be provided with adequate and reliable health insurance protection, a spouse who has been the primary policy holder may benefit from simply continuing coverage benefits to their soon to be ex-spouse.  While insurance policy regulations will certainly vary, some companies permit a primary policy holder to offer coverage and benefits for an ex-spouse for a limited or permanent range of time.  This option generally allows children to continue to benefit from health insurance without any interruptions and significant alterations to a policy.

Divorce Between Two Primary Policy Holders

If both spouses are primary health insurance policy holders through their individual employers, then a separating couple must specifically clarify which parent will be the primary provider upon the finality of the divorce.  If both parents hold their own primary policies, then one parent must be agreed to act as the “primary” insurer, while the other parent must act as the “secondary” insurer.  As the primary carrier, a parent will cover most of the major costs and expenses of caring for their child’s or children’s health.  As the secondary carrier, a parent will typically help cover any additional costs that are not specifically covered by the primary carrier.

If you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse are debating over which parent should claim each role, then a husband and wife can contact their insurance provider for more details and potential support.  Commonly, insurance companies employ a “birthday rule,” wherein the parent with the earlier calendar birthday in a year will act as the primary carrier of insurance.

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Find Out How to Extend Your Health Insurance Coverage for Your Older Children

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

In the past, most health insurance providers ceased coverage for policy holders’ children once the offspring was no longer a full time student and / or reached the age of 23. Fortunately, as a rising number of Americans are living without health insurance coverage, many providers are offering extended benefits for policy holders with children over the age of 25.

Extended Health Insurance Coverage

While each state and health insurance provider will have its own specific restrictions regarding the extension of coverage for a policy holder’s children, many older children may be able to gain access to incredibly valuable extension opportunities. Generally, as long as a policy holder’s offspring is registered and enrolled as a full time student, then they can take advantage of their parents’ health care insurance until the age of 23-and potentially longer. Recently, 11 states approved extended coverage for dependents of policy holders up to 25 years old. Remarkably, some states have even permitted coverage for offspring up to the age of 30.

Generally, as most parents may have access to more extensive health insurance plans than younger individuals, taking advantage of extended health insurance for one’s child can ensure that every family member is thoroughly protected from routine and unexpected health care needs. As health insurance plans can be costly when purchased by students and / or younger individuals, providing dependents with pre-existing coverage can save money while offering greater insurance coverage features.

Common Restrictions for Extended Dependent Coverage

While many policy holders may be able to provide their children with greater health coverage perks, parents should be aware of the following common restrictions:

  • Once a child reaches the age of 18 and / or no longer declares him / herself as a “dependent,” then he / she may not be eligible for extended coverage
  • If a child is not enrolled in school as a registered full time student, he / she may not be eligible for health insurance extensions
  • If a child is a full time student but is married, then he / she may not be eligible for extended health insurance coverage
  • If a child is a full time student but has his / her own dependents, then he / she may not be eligible for extended coverage

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Do You Need Additional Cancer Coverage?

Friday, August 21st, 2009

As various forms of cancer are becoming an increasingly large problem for individuals around the world, many people are seeking to extend their health insurance plans in order to protect against any cancer-related treatments. To find out if you need to obtain additional cancer coverage with your health insurance policy, consider the various preventative and treatment costs / requirements for an ideal health insurance plan.

General Cancer Prevention Costs

As preventing any form of cancer should be a priority in one’s lifestyle, opting for health insurance providers that encourage preventative testing, care, and treatment is often ideal. Examples of common prevention efforts that can reduce / halt the spread of cancer often include:

  • Screening for cancer symptoms / masses / physical changes
  • Undergoing regular / recommended cancer evaluations such as:
    • Mammogram
    • Colonoscopy
    • Dermatology skin check (for signs skin cancer, moles, etcetera)
    • Regular gynecology check-ups (including a pap-smear)
    • Obtaining suggested vaccinations (such as the vaccine to prevent the spread of the sexually transmitted disease known as HPV, which has been shown to potentially lead to the growth of cancerous cells in the cervix)
    • Tests for testicular cancer

Unfortunately, while these tests, as well as other preventative efforts, have been shown to reduce the spread of certain cancers, many health insurance experts argue that providers do not always cover all of these costs; as a result, added cancer protection features may offer protection against out-of-pocket spending for cancer-related treatments.

Improving Your Health Insurance with Additional Cancer Coverage

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 65 percent of cancer-related medical costs (including prevention, treatment, and other expenses) are not covered by health insurance companies. With this startling statistic, experts predict that hundreds of millions of Americans are forced to pay for their cancer-related costs using their own personal budgets and incomes. As the medical expenses for various cancer-related costs can quickly rise to a high overall amount, opting for added cancer-related health insurance coverage can provide additional protection from huge medical fees. While each individual should evaluate his / her current health insurance policy to find out if added cancer protection is needed, individuals who meet the following criteria may additionally gain advantages from extra cancer-related insurance features:

  • Pre-existing cancerous signs / cells / symptoms
  • Specific forms of cancer that are common in one’s family history
  • An unknown family history (due to adoption, loss of health records, etcetera)
  • Living in an area with a higher cancer rate (IE: big cities may have higher rates of lung cancer, due to smog / pollution)
  • Poor lifestyle habits that can lead to cancer (such as obesity, smoking, or lack of exercise)

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Finding the Best Health Insurance Coverage for Expectant Mothers

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

If you are currently pregnant or planning to become pregnant in the near future, then you’ll undoubtedly want to seek out the most optimal health insurance plan for the benefits of you and your newborn.  If you are not provided with health insurance by your employer, then it may be in your best interest to shop around to find the most affordable and reliable health insurance policy as soon as possible, as the costs for pre-natal and post-delivery care can build rapidly!  To find out which health insurance provider is the most ideal choice for you and your baby, seek out providers while asking the following core focus questions:

Questions for Expectant Mothers in Search of Health Insurance

  • Maternity Care - Find out if the insurance provider covers maternity treatment / facilities. Fortunately, if you are employed by a company that fosters full time positions for 15 or more employees, then you are federally entitled to a plan that covers any pregnancy / maternity medical costs.

  • Authorizations - Ask the provider if you are required to have pre-authorized approval prior to medical visits and / or treatments. Adding to this, verify if you need to notify your insurance company before delivering your child, as some providers will charge insurance holders with extra fees and penalties of services are rendered without pre-approval.

  • Network Care - Are you required to visit doctors and hospitals that are in a set list of pre-approved “network providers,” or are you able to choose your doctor / facility of choice? If your provider has specific in-network policies, opting for any treatments outside of the pre-approved list can result in immense out of pocket charges and costs, as network plans generally only cover for services within their pre-approved lists.

  • Prenatal Care - Identify which prenatal tests, treatments, and exams are covered, as some providers will not cover certain types of prenatal exams.

  • Delivery - Will your insurance provider compensate for hospital delivery, at-home delivery (with a nurse or midwife), and / or emergency delivery services? Adding to these questions, will your provider cover the costs for a post-delivery hospital stay, as well as any costs related to extended medical stay due to complications?

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