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Daily Prevention Leads to a Better Life

June 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
CU, man buckling seatbelt 

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When it comes to healthcare, prevention is the first treatment! Preventing injuries isn’t entirely possible – accidents are so named because they are usually out of one’s control – but their incidence can be reduced. Even the accident prone can control some facets of the riskier parts of their lives. What’s risky? That depends on an individual’s perception, but a quite a few things qualify.

 

Driving a car without wearing a seatbelt is a very common cause of injury – just ask anyone who has been in an auto accident! Riding a bike along the side of the road often leads to injuries and fatalities as an impossibly heavy vehicle collides with a fragile, lightweight human body. Cut down on the risk factor by riding in dedicated bicycle lanes. Being aware is an easy way to cut down on the accident factor. Don’t be a person who walks through life inattentively, and you’ll see potential accidents before they occur.

 

By minimizing one’s personal exposure to accidents, the need to file personal insurance claims to cover accident related doctor visits and surgeries will drop. This doesn’t mean that one should disregard their personal care and drop their health insurance program. But it does mean that one can take concrete steps to reduce their personal exposure to situations that might demand insurance coverage. By taking personal steps to act in a safer manner, such as by quitting smoking, one can directly affect their premium pricing as well. Eating healthier and maintaining a regular exercise program will not only improve your personal health score, but will also contribute to a more favorable view by your health insurance provider.

 

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Choosing Your Health Care Coverage

December 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment

ContentWhen you start looking over your health care options, you might feel a little overwhelmed. All the talk of deductibles, in-network, out-of-network, and co-pays can leave anyone’s head spinning. By reading your plan carefully and asking the right questions, you can go into any appointment without worrying about what you’ll get charged.

The deductible refers to the amount that you have to pay out of pocket. The majority of plans have an initial deductible that is entirely paid for by you. This means that anything besides routine checkups has to be paid for by you; typically, the first $1,000, $2,000, or $4,000 is the deductible. The higher the deductible, the less you pay out of your paycheck for insurance. After the initial deductible is met, insurance companies tend to split the cost with you. For another $1,000, $2,000, or $4,000, the insurance company will pay 80% while you pay 20% of your health care costs. After this, the insurance company typically pays for 100% of your health care costs.

Out-of-network and in-network are two more confusing terms. Every insurance company has lists of doctors in every specialty that they will cover. If you stick to these in-network doctors, your deductibles and payments remain the same. However, if you go out-of-network, you have to pay more out-of-pocket. Additionally, the amount you pay out-of-pocket typically does not apply to your deductible. For these reasons, you should only go out-of-network when it’s absolutely necessary.

Co-pays are a big part of your health care plan. When you see a doctor that is a general practitioner, you typically have to pay a low co-pay for any checkups. If you see a specialist, such as an ob-gyn or cardiologist, you have to pay a higher co-pay for any appointments.

The best source for clarification on your health care plan is your insurance carrier; the customer service agents are always willing to answer questions.

Filed Under: General Health Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

October 2010 is a Time of Change for Health Insurance

November 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment

September and October are a time of change. The leaves change, children go back to school and in 2010 it’s a time for change amongst health insurance companies. During the past year the government has passed many changes that health insurance providers must comply with by a certain date or face stiff fines and penalties. There are so many changes that have been thrown out to the public that it can be very confusing what goes into effect this year and what can wait a few years to go into effect. Here is a look at some of the changes being made to health insurance in the year 2010.

Student Coverage. In years past a student might lose coverage either when they left high school or when they reached their 21st or 23rd birthday. Under the new laws passed, a student can be covered under a parent’s insurance plan until their 26th birthday as long as they meet the criteria for being a student under the health insurance plan.

Pre-Existing Conditions in Children. Many insurance companies were able to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. This year, insurance companies will have to start implementing a system that will cover children with pre-existing conditions.

Preventative Care. Although this part of the changes doesn’t have to go into effect until 2018, some health insurance companies will start making the changes starting in October. By 2018, all insurance companies must allow preventative tests and screenings to be covered completely, meaning no co-pay is required to cover these types of services. Medicare is also going along with this change and starting in 2011, wellness checkups will be covered under Medicare with no charge to the patient.

There are hundreds of other changes that health insurance companies will have to make over the next 8 years. These are just some of the immediate changes that people will start to see starting in October 2010.

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Health Insurance Premiums: The Facts

November 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

If you are one of the many people with health insurance then you probably have some sort of idea about the cost associated with health insurance. Health insurance can really put a dent into a person’s pocketbook. So what are some of the costs that are associated with health insurance?

Very few Americans that are insured by an employer have their health benefits covered completely by the company. A major cost associated with health insurance is that of the premiums. Premiums are what a person must pay up front annually in order to be ensured that the health insurance coverage will be available when the times comes to use it.

Health insurance companies take a number of factors from age, sex, previous health conditions and even lifestyles into effect when deciding what the premium will cost a person. Quotes will usually vary more if a person is purchasing insurance on their own, while companies will normally have a set premium that everyone pays.

Health insurance premiums have recently been a top story on many news programs. Over the past 9 years, the insurance premiums of almost every person has doubled, if not tripled. While coverage for many things have either been completely eliminated or a person must pay a higher out of pocket expense to get the coverage.

A most recent news story has estimated that in 2011, premiums on most of American’s health insurance will rise as much as 14% over what they paid in 2010. For this reason, one of the most debated and talked about healthcare reform issue is that of the health insurance and the cost of the premiums that are charged to people. Health insurance premiums have brought out two types of people. There are people who believe that the increase in premium is needed to keep healthcare affordable, while opposers believe that there is no excuse for these increases other then putting money into the health insurance’s pocket.

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Health Insurance: Finding Quotes Online

October 30, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Health Insurance Forum
Image by Aaron Landry via Flickr

Everyone loves to get the best deals possible. Health insurance is no exception to the deal factor. The rising costs of health insurance has caused many people to turn to the Internet to get quotes and make sure that they are getting the best possible deal on health insurance.

When people work for a company or corporation they rarely realize just how expensive health insurance can be. When you work for a company, usually the company will assume some sort of cost for the insurance. Sometimes this comes in the form of the company paying a certain amount of the premium, other times it comes in the form of the employee getting a good rate on the insurance.

If for some reason a person is disqualified from the health insurance pool of the company or they lose their job and require health insurance; that is when the individual insurance comes in.

Individual health insurance can be very costly. The price of the premium will vary depending on the person. Factors such as age, weight, pre-existing conditions and sex will all be take into account when figuring out a premium price for the insurance. Other factors that will effect the price of the insurance quote is that of how much coverage is given to a person under the insurance coverage and what amount the deductible will be. These all effect the price of the insurance.

To ensure that a person is getting the best quote possible, websites all over the Internet have developed the ability to do a price quote comparison. These sites allow you to put into them what coverage you want and all the statistics that come with health insurance. In return the site will give you quotes from some of the top individual health insurance provides and allow you to compare the prices.

These comparison sites are helping thousands of American’s who need individual health insurance the best insurance that money can buy.

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Filed Under: General Health Tagged With: , ,

The Uninsured Turn to Dr. Internet for Their Healthcare Needs

October 27, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Every day the number of uninsured Americans rises. There are over a million Americans with little or no health insurance and that number is only rising every day. While Congress and the House of Representatives debate over what the best healthcare solution is for America, these uninsured people are facing difficult decisions when it comes to handling their healthcare.

Uninsured Americans when they fall ill must face the possibility of either heading to an emergency room or private doctor and handling the stack of bills that comes with it or sit at home and hope that whatever health issue is happening isn’t a massive problem and will go away.

While these are the choices that Americans face, how are some of them deciding if their health issue is severe enough to head to an emergency room or doctor?

They are turning to the internet.

The Internet is starting to become of the most commonly used items to help individuals make the decision on if their health issue is important enough to head to the emergency room or not. By using one of the many websites that are available on the Internet, people are able to imput a list of their symptoms and see what a possible diagnosis is for those symtoms. From there they can decide if the issue is severe enough to want to face the stack of bills that comes from heading to a doctor and not having insurance.

The problem facing these people is that the Internet is not an accurate way to help with healthcare. Many serious issues are going undiagnosised simply because a website said that it was nothing to worry about.

As the healthcare debate wages on and more Americans go without insurance it is a sure bet that more and more people will be turning to websites for help diagnosing their health problems.

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Emergency Health Insurance: What is It

October 20, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Anyone who has ever had a run in with an emergency health situation knows how expensive a trip to the emergency room can cost. There are fees associated with the use of the emergency room, the x-rays or tests that are run, the fee to see a doctor and even at times the cost for paperwork to be processed or the ride in an ambulance. The costs of an emergency room visit can really put a dent in ones wallet.

For the average American who does not have health insurance the average trip to the emergency room costs around $800 for a visit. This is a very basic cost and does not include anything such as urgent care that might be required if you were to go to the emergency room with a heart attack or stroke.

Luckily, there is a way to avoid these high medical costs. Many insurance companies offer the chance for people to buy into what is known as an emergency health insurance policy. These policies are designed to only cover emergency trips to the hospital. They do not cover illnesses, general exam or any other type of general visit to the doctor.

Under this policy, a review board has the right to review your insurance claim and determine whether the trip to the emergency room was an emergency. Many people are uncomfortable with this idea but as long as you are using the insurance for an emergency the claim will go through without an issue.

Emergency health insurance costs very little to purchase because of the lack of coverage that it provides. However, if you are worried that you might face an emergency health situation and not have enough money to cover all the bills and fees that come with it, it is a good idea to consider emergency health insurance. It’s better to be prepared for the worst, then to have the worst happen and be unprepared.

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Healthcare and Health Insurance Available to Students

October 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment
If you are enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate at a college, you probably have health benefits that you may not even know about. While there may have been a slip of paper in your orientation package, here is a refresher on what your school may be offering you.

Mental Healthcare. Many universities will have free or inexpensive counseling services. Some schools, to prevent the waste of a counselor’s time, will charge a small fee (such as five dollars) for appointments where the student does not show up. The counselors you are working with may be regular certified counselors who are donating their time, or who are hired as a full-time employees of the university. Otherwise, they may be graduate students who are finishing their degree, and use their time counseling students to complete their required clinic hours.

First Aid Healthcare. Most, if not all, colleges, no matter how small, will offer some sort of first aid healthcare. This could mean that they provide diagnoses for minor problems and provide free cough medicine and ibuprofen, or it could be that they have a full-time physician who can prescribe medication. Large universities can even offer free emergency care for anything from a fractured bone to a cut in need of stitches. Be sure to check with your university to make sure that you are not missing out on the healthcare benefits that are made available to you.

Student Insurance. Some colleges do not provide student insurance, but can recommend a place where you can get it. Other colleges offer insurance not only for you, but also for your spouse and even children. The premiums and details of these insurance programs can vary widely, so be sure you contact your school or your insurance company for more information.

While you may bet be aware of all the free or inexpensive healthcare amenities provided for you, you should take advantage of them while you can. You have already paid for them through your tuition, and this is one area where your university can give it back to you and provide for you.

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Filed Under: General Health Tagged With: , ,