Who Needs Private Health Insurance?

COSTA MESA, Calif. - Nov. 1, 2019 - PRLog -- If your employer doesn't supply you with health insurance, if you just turned 26 and are no longer eligible to be on your parents' insurance, if you're unemployed or self-employed, work part-time, have your own business or are recently retired and don't qualify for Original Medicare, you will need to buy private health insurance (https://smartfinancial.com/health-insurance). If you do qualify for original Medicare, you'll need to buy private Medigap insurance to cover Medicare copays and other out-of-pocket expenses. If you are ineligible for Medicare, you can buy private Medicare, which is called Medicare Advantage. You cannot buy Medigap along with Medicare Advantage because coverages overlap and it's unnecessary to have both.

How Do I Choose a Health Plan, It's So Confusing!

Buying private health insurance is confusing! This is why we suggest filling out a form here (https://smartfinancial.com/health-insurance) and being placed with a trustworthy agent. Some things to keep in mind when comparing what insurers offer are the following factors:

Prescription Drug Coverage: If you take medications, you will have a copayment on these medications. If you take many medications, this could add up to be a lot. Be sure to keep prescription drug coverage in mind and see if an insurer only covers generics, if you need an on-name brand drug.

Co-pays: Copayments for doctors' visits, lab tests and x-rays and can also make the cost of your health care more or less expensive. Jot down how often you see doctors a year on average and consider how much that will cost in copayments per year to compare plans.

If you're pregnant and will be seeing doctors an unusual number of days in the coming year, take these copays into consideration when choosing a plan. You may be better off buying a more expensive plan with a cheaper copay if you're having weekly doctor visits. Better yet, see if there's a plan that fits your budget that has pregnancy benefits.

Note that there is no copay for your annual checkup if you buy an ACA-qualified plan.

What are the hospital copays? How about for an emergency room visit? These are often unanticipated expenses.

Your Doctor: If you feel you need to keep a certain doctor, ask them if they belong to an HMO or PPO plan. If they do not, you may want to choose an EPO or PPO plan so that you can be covered, if only partially, to see this doctor. Some physicians do not belong to an HMO plans. If you choose a doctor that is a part of your HMO or PPO network of providers will save you money.