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eLearning Series:
Your Most Popular Insurance Questions
Answers For Health and Home
Insurance
( 50 articles
in this series )
Do You Understand
Your Health Insurance Policy?
You now are the proud owner of a health insurance
policy through your place of employment, but you have no clue
what anything in it means. You start reviewing the policy and
it gets more confusing as each word is read. This happens too
often to a lot of people and it shouldn’t. Insurance
policies for the most part are simple to understand if you
know the
language they speak. Now if you don’t that’s another story.
Let’s get started and see if we can help you make sense of
your new health insurance policy.
The first things you want to understand are the many terms
that are in your policy. One of the common terms that you will
see a lot and deal with a lot is a deductible. A deductible
is what you would have to pay before any benefits in your health
insurance policy would be accessible. Usually this is an annual
amount and will vary greatly by the underwriters of the policy.
Most of the time there are separate deductibles for an individual
account and a family account. Some policies will let you use
some of their services with out meeting the deductible. Once
you meet your deductible then you’re done for that calendar
year. The following year though you have to start all over
again.
Co-insurance,
or co-payments which they are sometimes called,
are amounts that are paid by the insured before the insurance
will pay and this is in addition to the deductibles. Some policies
let you pay a co-payment for certain services without meeting
the deductible.
Out
of Pocket is what you will have to pay out of your own
pocket. This could include your deductibles, co-insurance,
and your co-payments. If you hear the term “annual out of pocket
expense” this is the maximum out of your own pocket you would
have to pay for the services minus the premiums, which are
due no matter what.
Most every policy that you get especially health insurance
policies have a lifetime maximum term. What this means that
your policy basically has a cap on it. During the lifetime
you can’t go over a predetermined amount or the health insurance
won’t pay after the set amount. Now don’t get worried it’s
usually a very high figure but with today’s rapid escalating
health care costs you can reach it fairly quickly.
Exclusions will be one section that you must read very carefully
and fully understand in your health insurance policy. Exclusions
are things the policy will not cover and this can be a very
gray area. The policy could cover operations but not after
care or cover after care and not the operation. This is one
of the most important sections of your policy so read it and
reread it over a lot to make sure you grasp all of the contents
and what it covers and what it doesn’t cover.
Pre-existing
conditions is one of the things you will want
to know about. Pre-existing basically means it was a condition
you already have and been treated for which the policy will
not cover it or pay for any work done for that pre-existing
condition. Some health insurance policies will cover pre-existing
where others won’t which is why knowing what is in your policy
is very important.
Waiting
period is usually the time you will have to wait for
your health insurance policy to become effective. Most policies
do have a waiting period and the benefits aren’t available
until you have met the waiting period requirements. Different
companies have different policies so check with your insurance
company so you will know the rules for your policy.
Grace
period is the amount of time that is given for one to
pay their health insurance premium after the original due date
has passed.
There are many things that you should always remember as you
look over your health insurance policy. Read each and every
paragraph and make sure you understand how the whole policy
works so you will never be in the dark or have any questions
about what is covered and what isn’t. Remember that it is okay
to ask questions!
Click here to to view health insurance quotes, compare plans side-by-side and apply for the most affordable health insurance within your budget. I did this myself (June 17, 2011) to change my health insurance policy. Saved me $84 per month (or $1,008 per year). It's my SolveYourProblem recommendation.
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by SolveYourProblem.com : 2005
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