Content Overview
- Summary
- Keep Your I.D. Card With You In Your Wallet Or Purse
- Stay On Top Of Insurance Company Reimbursements
- Keep Track Of Out-Of-Pocket Medical Expenses
- Avoid Paying Money In Excess Of Usual, Customary And Reasonable
- Be An Informed Consumer When Purchasing Drugs, Tests Or Treatments.
- Balance Premiums, Deductibles, Co-Insurance, Stop Loss, And Benefit
- Take Advantage Of Discounts And Wellness Features
- If You Smoke, Quit.
- If You Need An Unusual Off Label Or An Experimental Treatment
- How To Change An Insurance Company "No" To "Yes".
- How To Choose And Maximize Use Of Doctors
- If Your Plan Has Mental Health Benefits, Take Advantage Of Them
How To Maximize Use Of A Fee-For-Service (Indemnity) Health Insurance Policy
Balance Premiums, Deductibles, Co-Insurance, Stop Loss, And Benefit
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If you have a choice about features of your policy, it's not easy to foresee how to reach the best balance of premium amount with benefits, and amount of deductible, co-insurance and stop loss
You can reduce premiums by taking the following steps:
- Increase the amount of the annual deductible
- Increase the amount you pay as co-insurance
- Decrease the benefits
If you think about insurance as a way to pay for unacceptable medical expenses, then it becomes clear that saving dollars now to decrease a lifetime maximum becomes really risky.
With a history of a life changing condition, it seems likely that you will incur a basic amount of health care expense each year. You can pay an insurance company to cover those costs. However, trading dollars with an insurance company is expensive. If you pay the medical costs directly, it only costs you $1.00. On the other hand, if you want the insurance company to pay, it will cost you $1.00 plus money to cover the insurance company's overhead, administrative costs, and profit.
The amount of co-insurance that works best for you relates to the amount of the stop loss, which in turn depends on the amount of money that becomes an unacceptable risk to you.
The balance becomes even more difficult if you are part of a unit with a spouse/significant other and/or children.
An experienced insurance broker or financial planner can help you figure out the balance for your life.
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