How To Find The Best Health Coverage?

Health insurance can be tricky to understand and  it is even trickier to pick the right health care coverage.   You have a number of factors that you have to consider.  Some of the factors you have to consider are your health care needs and how much it will cost you.  Here are some tips to help you pick the right coverage.

1 – Where And When

The first thing you have to figure out is where and when you need to enroll for health coverage by.  The where is wherever you live.  The when should be figured out by talking to your employer or talking to a health insurance representative.

2 – Determine Your Needs

Your next step is to determine your needs.  Some things to consider is if you have a pre-existing condition, see the doctor often, and have a family history of health issues.  You should also think about if you plan on having a baby anytime soon.  These are important questions that will help you determine your health insurance needs.

3 – Compare Plans

Once you understand your health insurance needs, you can start comparing plans.  There are lots of health insurance companies out there.  Some of the popular ones are Blue Cross, Anthem, Kaiser, United Healthcare and Cigna. They all offer HMO, PPO, EPO or POS plans.  When you compare health insurance plans, you should look at the summary of benefits and the doctors that are considered in-network.

4 – Out-Of-Pocket Costs

During this step, you will want to narrow down choices based on the out-of-pocket costs.  The plans summary of benefits will review how much you will have to pay out-of-pocket for all medical services.  Out-of-pocket expenses are not reimbursed by health insurance.  This expense includes coinsurance, co-payments, deductibles and bills for services not included in the plan.

5 – Benefits

To narrow down your health insurance plan options further, you should look at some of the more specific benefits for each plan.  Some examples on benefits to look into include:

• If your medication is covered by the plan
• Maternity leave coverage
• Coverage if you get sick while abroad
• Mental health
• Physical therapy coverage

6 – Consult The Experts

After you have done your research and understood everything there is about the health insurance plan you have picked, you should talk to an expert.  You can ask the expert questions and get clarification on anything that you may find confusing.  This will help reassure you that you have made the right decision.