We teach our children at a young age the difference between wants and needs, and in spite of our best efforts their understanding of this concept takes a while to sink in. If you’re a parent like me, you know its just how it is – if your aren’t a parent, go ask one.
And even when we grow up, not all of us have attained a real understanding of the difference. Its confusing and there are many blurry lines.
When it comes to health care, there should be NO confusion – getting care is a need not a want.
But having a copay is a want if you are buying health insurance for yourself.
Sure its convenient, its easy, and its nice to have. But it is not a need and its far more expensive than it is worth if you are buying insurance for yourself. (If you are getting your health insurance from your employer, this post isn’t really for you – get all the benefits you can…)
But when you have to pay for your own insurance, you will pay much more in additional premiums than the copay is worth.
An in-network office visit is going to cost about $45 – $75 after the insurance company discount and depending on whether the care is for primary or specialty care. So a $35 copay is only giving you a $10 to $40 benefit for every visit you have.
The additional health insurance premium you will pay is typically at least 25% more than the same plan without a copay.
So a plan that costs $4000 with a copay would cost about $3000 without an office copay benefit.
That’s a savings of $1000 a year which would cover the actual benefit you would receive on roughly 50 office visits a year.
How many times do you go to the doctor a year and do the math. I am pretty confident you will find out that the office visit is not the right decision.
Posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance.
Whether you are seeking affordable health insurance coverage for yourself, your family or for your business, Benepath will gives you instant quotes for affordable health insurance coverage from the top health insurance providers. In just a few moments, you will see affordable health insurance plans including PPO plans, HSA plans and HMO plans. Furthermore, the Benepath website will permit users to view a comparison of the various health insurance quotes which have been sourced from the top health insurance providers in the country. This will ensure that you gain the assurance that their selected affordable health insurance coverage offers the best value for the money and is able to take care of their family’s or their staff’s health needs.
Comparing the benefits which are offered by a number of health insurance options is a wise move and thanks to the straightforward website of Benepath, you will be able to do just that – get the most affordable health insurance plan which is best suited to your particular needs
When looking for health insurance coverage, it is recommended that you select a local health insurance agent that has a good knowledge of the local insurance companies and their networks of doctors, pharmacies, and hospitals. A good agent can really help you avoid the “gotcha” too many people face when buying a plan without the help of an experienced agent.
Benepath has helped over 100,000 consumers who were seeking good value for their money find health insurance coverage that was able to meet their family’s healthcare needs. At Benepath you will receive quotations for affordable health insurance coverage from local insurance providers without any obligation. Feel free to visit the Benepath website at https://www.benepath.com and get no-cost, no-obligation, affordable health insurance quotes from many well-known health insurance providers.
Posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance.
People across the country have just seen a 20 – 50% increases in health insurance quotes in 2010. Kaiser Health News even recently reported on how government regulators were having a tough time determining the definition of an unreasonable rate increase.
Shopping for a health insurance quote has never been so important or so necessary for businesses and individuals alike. Providing a quality standard of living is important for the well being of employees and their families and may seem like a challenge in today’s economic climate. With so many options available for medical coverage, it is difficult to know who to contact and even if it is worthwhile.
It may seem tempting to push the research for an affordable health insurance quote to the back burner, but not making that call can mean the difference of thousands of dollars. A health insurance quote may seem to have skyrocketed outside your budget, but what has become truly unaffordable to many is the meteorical rise in medical costs. If the need arises for any type of procedure involving surgery, hospitalization, ongoing treatments and prescription medication, you will be faced with serious costs that most people cannot afford (That’s why health insurance is soo expensive…).
The advantage of getting health insurance is that you are getting some means of being able to handle exorbitant medical bills.
Going through one of Benepath’s national network of insurance agents gives you the absolute best prices from the top insurance carriers in the nation with service from a local agent who understands which carriers are the best in your community for your needs. They will also give you a health insurance quote comparisons from all the top carriers to determine which is the most cost effective plan for you that covers the essentials you need.
Because medical costs keep rising, it is important to enroll in some type of coverage now, before the health insurance prices get even higher, even if all you do is get the most basic plan. There are three major reasons that could save you thousands for getting your health insurance plan now:
Avoid Future Increases in Health Insurance Rates. We have just seen how rates have grown 20-50%. How much higher are they going to be when you finally make your decision on a health insurance plan?
Don’t Wait Until its Too Late. It may be too late if you wait too long and you or a family member becomes sick. At the very best your costs will be higher and the worst case scenario may be that you cannot even get insurance.
Peace of Mind. While the others are quantifiable, there is nothing like knowing you and your family have good coverage and that you won’t have to worry about what might happen.
For individuals and families buying health insurance for themselves, the smart decision is to get a high deductible health plan and not to buy a plan with copayments for prescriptions and office visits. The reason is simple – it will cost you much less in the long run.
However, if you do this, you must set up and fund an HSA!
There is a lot of evidence right now that when someone has a copay to see a doctor, that they will see the doctor many more times than someone who has to pay for the service out of their pocket. Which means that person is more likely to see a doctor when it is really needed and they will end up avoiding more expensive medical care.
The big advantage of the high deductible health plan is savings and protection. It protects you from the large health care expenses and saves you money today on your premiums. But don’t be dollar wise and penny foolish and not get the routine care you need on a day to day basis.
One of the best ways to help you avoid making cost decisions for care you need is by setting up a Health Savings Account (HSA). My recommendation is take at least half of what you save by purchasing a high deductible plan and investing in your HSA. For my family its $100 a month, and that covers all of our routine care like pediatric visits and prescriptions. We have a debit card attached to the HSA, so its easy to use as well. After all of our treatments, we even have money left over at the end of the year – and the interest is tax free.
Having the money in the HSA will help you avoid the mistake of not going to the doctor when its needed and will help you spread out the expenses you will certainly face as you take on a greater share of your necessary medical expenses.
And if you don’t use the money, when you turn 65 the savings that are there are the same as the money in your IRA. So its your’s to use without penalty. But you can still take the money out tax-free for medical expenses – which will be one of your biggest expenses when you retire.
Happy Hunting!
Posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance.
Because HMOs use physician and hospital networks with the least expensive providers possible these health insurance plans are able to provide you with benefits most people like such as low copayments for office visits.
The downside is that when you see health care providers outside of the network, you will end up paying much more if not all of the cost of the care because HMOs offer limited or no benefits for out of network care except in the case of an emergency. This is why many people who have serious medical conditions do not join these plans.
The managed health care plans that allow you greater flexibility are the HMO Point of Service (POS) and the Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) insurance programs. These plans will cover some or all of the medical services that you need with health care providers who are not part of the network. But check all the policy provisions and make sure that they will cover the type of service you are receiving and with the physician of your choice.
When you start comparing different health insurance quotes for yourself, your family or your business you will likely find that the deductible and other out of pocket benefits for these plans are quite a bit higher than a plan without copayments for office visits for the same price.
So, you need to consider why you are buying health insurance in the first place. Is it to:
Have the convenience of a low copayment when you visit a doctor? or
To protect you from the costs associated with a serious medical emergency?
The smart money always buys insurance for things that need insurance. In the case of health care, that is protecting against catastrophic loss. But most people complain about how much money they spend on health insurance and how little they get in return. So they end up buying HMO and PPO plans and hope they don’t get really sick. A decision like that can be one you end up regretting.
Posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance.
In an altruistic world, where service truly is the focus of the provider and especially those selling their services, you might expect the answer to the question, “Who can you trust?” to be anyone in the health care industry. Health insurance is there to provide services for people who are insuring the health, wealth, and happiness of themselves and their loved ones so that you would hope that the business offering the health insurance quotes would have your best interests at heart.
Unfortunately, carpet baggers and snake oil pushers are still prevalent in today’s society and its critical to avoid health insurance scam artists. While the cost and benefits of policies from well known and respected companies are highly regulated; there are companies selling everything from health plans with little to no insurance or plain old discount plans to consumers as full blown health insurance plans. Recently, the New York Times reported on companies using health reform to further defraud consumers.
Some web sites offer online health insurance quotes and preferred package opportunities that are only scams to collect your email address which they sell to as many spam lists as they can. Another down side of choosing health insurance quotes that appear low and seem highly affordable is the possibility that when you need coverage you find out that everything is so limited that you basically have no coverage.
So which health insurance quotes provider can you trust? Those from well established websites like Benepath who provide the best prices available, the same prices that you can get directly from the carriers themselves, and the ability to compare the top companies’ packages with HMO, PPO, and HSA quotes. Health Insurance websites like Benepath have lots of plans from top carriers to review and Benepath partners with local agents across the country to provide you with those quotes.
You can trust a company that encourages you to choose only the medical insurance quotes with the health services that you need, rather than an inflated package that expands either the practitioner’s or the carrier’s pocket by giving you unnecessary benefits and coverage. Sites that allow you to compare health insurance quotes from reputable carriers like Aetna, Anthem, Blue Cross, and UnitedHealthcare who are financially strong and will be around to assist you in your hour of need are where you should invest your time.
Companies like Benepath work with local insurance agents and help you select the right health insurance quotes from the nations’ top carriers. Benepath gives you the ability to do online comparisons, they connect you with local agents with expertise who will help you choose the right plan, and then give you the opportunity to apply online and not wait any longer to get the coverage that your family deserves. Getting health insurance quotes takes only seconds online with no obligation and no hard sell follow up.
Posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance.
If you opt to not have a plan because of high insurance rates, do not wait until your health is a problem to start looking. If your health plan has been to not visit the doctor and not take medications, you may be quite surprised when you finally have a reason to check health insurance quotes. Health insurance companies view sick people as a risk, so they charge you more because they are more likely to pay more in actual claims than they receive in premiums. Depending on your condition and the carrier, you may not even be able to get coverage or could have your coverage taken away after you approved because of some technicality. The LA Times reported on how several insurers rescinded policies for many people who were sick due to technicalities in their applications.
Even though health insurance rates are high, hospital bills, surgeons, medications, and post procedure care can be exorbitant. What could have been manageable with a monthly payment for a health insurance plan now threatens the ability for you and your family to enjoy a healthy and happy life. In the end, it pays to have health insurance. Your health insurance rates will also impacted by your age, your past health record, and the part of the United States that you live in.
Health insurance plans fall into four main categories:
Health Maintenance Organizations
Preferred Provider Plans
Major Medical Plans
High Deductible Health Plans
About 10 years ago, these different types of plans were very distinct and could easily be identified.
Today, the lines have blurred, making it hard to distinguish one from the other in many cases.
In a traditional sense, a Health Maintenance Organization is a health plan where your care is managed by your primary care physician along with the Health Maintenance Organization itself. These plans typically have low co-payments for services at a doctor’s office and even for hospitalizations and surgeries. A big drawback to these plans is that when you get sick, you end up being limited to which doctors you can see and you will need referrals from your primary care physician and approval from the managed care organization for anything from diagnostic tests to surgeries and hospitalization.
Preferred Provider Plans were originally a spin-off of HMO’s. Insurance companies saw they had good discounts with in-network providers and consumers were upset with the oversight from the managed care companies. So, they created plans that had the features people liked – low copayments and little insurance company oversight. Also, there are benefits when you go out of network, but they are reduced by 20% – 30%.
The health plan that has been around the longest is the Major Medical Insurance plan option. Originally these plans had a deductible, coinsurance, a maximum out of pocket amount and some had separate benefits for hospitalization and surgery – often provided by Blue Cross with the major medical being offered by a traditional insurance carrier. Today, you don’t see people carrying one plan for hospitalization and another for other services and plans that are sold as major medical usually incorporate a network and enhanced benefits for seeing a network provider. So, they look more like a PPO plan without copayments.
Finally, we have the High Deductible Health Plans typically associated with Health Savings Accounts. These plans are just Major Medical Plans with deductibles, coinsurance and out of pocket limits that conform with the limits set forth by the Federal Government (Here is a nice HSA overview the US Office of Personnel Management Prepared for government workers).
To learn more about Health insurance quotes, affordable health insurance, affordable health insurance quotes, health insurance plans, visit Benepath.com.
Health insurance issues are always a significant concern for both employers and individuals. Headlines frequently describe the ever increasing cost of healthcare and insurance, and constantly changing rules can make obtaining proper coverage a complicated matter. Many insurance shoppers are turning to the internet for information that they can use to make informed decisions and compare plans, packages and rates. To this end, Benepath has designed a website that offers users a comprehensive resource such as insurance news, informative articles and a powerful interface that allows users to compare quotes within seconds.
“One of the most common complaints about insurance shopping that we’ve heard is that it can be confusing to compare one plan to another,” explains Clelland Green, Benepath’s President. “We have made it our mission to give insurance shoppers the power and knowledge they need to make the best healthcare decisions for their families.” Benepath accomplishes this with a user-friendly website, an easy-to-use health insurance quote system, and a wealth of information that every insurance buyer should know.
The site benefits both the insured and the uninsured. Those who are interested in saving money on their existing plans can quickly compare offers from leading insurers, while new insurance buyers can find the exact package that suits their needs and their situation. Employers who want to offer their employees the security of a comprehensive benefit plan can also request quotes that best suit their business and their budget.
About Benepath: Benepath was founded by Clelland Green in 2004 as a consulting firm to provide insurers and managed care organizations with advice regarding the development of consumer directed health plans (CDHs) such as HSAs, HRAs, and high deductible health plans. When it became clear that insurance brokers did not have a firm grasp of the CDH market, Benepath was founded with a unique business model to ensure that businesses and individuals learned about the importance of these products and how they could be a better fit than traditional health insurance plans including HMOs and PPOs.
Posted on Saturday, May 15th, 2010. Filed under Health Insurance.
And even when we grow up, not all of us have attained a real understanding of the difference. Its confusing and there are many blurry lines.
Shopping for a health insurance quote has never been so important or so necessary for businesses and individuals alike. Providing a quality standard of living is important for the well being of employees and their families and may seem like a challenge in today’s economic climate. With so many options available for medical coverage, it is difficult to know who to contact and even if it is worthwhile.
Organization itself. These plans typically have low co-payments for services at a doctor’s office and even for hospitalizations and surgeries. A big drawback to these plans is that when you get sick, you end up being limited to which doctors you can see and you will need referrals from your primary care physician and approval from the managed care organization for anything from diagnostic tests to surgeries and hospitalization.