Health Insurance - Are You Being Duped?

PRLog (Press Release) - Sep 18, 2008 -
Health insurance policy holders today need to realize exactly how much effort traditional insurance will put forth to keep from paying your medical bills.  The average insurance deductible before benefits start paying is $1,500.00, and unless you are way over insured, there is a cap limit to everything in your policy.  Even the Government run Medicare and Medicaid will not cover certain aspects of your health needs no matter what you have been lead to believe.  Unless you are from the wealthy part of our society, and over insured, traditional insurance doesn’t pay for it either.  Medicare does not pay for long-term nursing home stays or many other types of long term care.  The qualifications you are required to meet to be eligible for the Government based Medicaid type health program make them useless to over 70% of the population, as we know it today.  

Here is an example from ConsumerReports.Org: Peter, a t-shirt shop owner in Carbondale, PA declined care for his amputated thumb because he can’t possibly afford an individual insurance policy. Sacrificing his thumb seemed like a better option than losing his home and business because of the medical bills that would be incurred to reattach it.  

You need to educate yourself about the terms traditional insurance uses and exactly what you will be responsible for.  If you start a new job and you are finally able to get health insurance for yourself and your family, you think, “Now I can relax a bit.”  Think again, you and your family will have a minimum of a six-month waiting period before traditional insurance even takes affect.  You need to be made aware of the fact that if there is a pre-existing condition, the wait can be as far out as twelve months.  Any illness an insurance company determines is associated with that pre-existing condition will never be covered.  Don’t forget the deductible and co-pay you are obligated to pay before the benefits start picking up the tab. You need to ask if the deductible is annual or does it apply to each family member?  Good luck getting in right away if you have a PPO, the providers in their network have waiting lists that are months long and they may not even be accepting new patients.  You had better educate yourself fully to understand the services that are not covered outside of your HMO or PPO: and what you consider an emergency may not fit the criteria of what they consider an emergency.  Don’t forget to ask the provider doing your treatment in ICU or the emergency room if they belong to the network your traditional insurance covers.  If they don’t belong to the network, guess who is responsible for their bill.  The long-term policy you have either has fixed daily benefits or a daily cap limit.  The supplemental insurance will help pay what Medicare doesn’t pay, but these policies do not pay all of the expenses that aren’t covered.

Do you know what a flex plan is?  Let me explain, a flex plan is attached to your health insurance.  It’s an account you are allowed to put extra money into every year in anticipation of your family’s medical needs for the year.  In most cases, if you don’t use that money before the year is out, you might be lucky to get it back.  This sounds like a really good idea doesn’t it?  Again, let me break it down for you.  You’re paying an average of $7,200.00 a year for health care coverage for your family’s medical needs and you decide to set aside another $3,000 or $4,000, in the flex plan.  Yes, I am being conservative; it is usually much more than that.  You are not going to like it but here it is, the annual insurance is $7,200.00, the deductible $1,500.00, the flex plan $3,500.00, and how much is your co-pay?   We both know that not all the out of pocket expense you will incur is mentioned here.  I only have one question, where’s the car?  You just paid for one, now where is it?  Flex Plans more often than not are “use it or lose” it annual accounts.

Another example from ConsumerReports.Org: When Tina called to update her policy with her married name, she decided to ask—just to be absolutely sure—whether she had maternity coverage. The agent said yes, giving Tina some comfort as she and her husband set about starting a family. Five months into her pregnancy the insurance company denied all maternity coverage.

The cost of health insurance is anticipated to rise another 6% or more in 2009.  Your benefits coverage will be declining and your out of pocket expense will be rising.  According to the CDC in June of 2008, 43.1 million Americans are uninsured.   You can afford benefits coverage for your family that will cut the costs, in a lot of cases more than traditional insurance.  

The Benefits Plans of the proven 16-year-old company AmeriPlan, are not only affordable but a logical choice for consumers with a high deductible.  We accept everything traditional insurance doesn’t.  We remove the confining barriers of exactly whatever treatment you need to have.  There is no debate about what is covered and what isn’t.  You don’t have to pay full cost for any of your family’s needs anymore.

For more information, please check the following link.  http://www.MyBenefitsPlus.com/FYourBoss

crsw_85301@yahoo.com

Benefits Broker CEO
Author Copyright©
Carolyn Siler Washington
623-255-1689
4404 W Bethany Home Rd
Glendale, AZ  85301

Edited by:  Linda G. Mason

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6090926

Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/10118999/1