Health Insurance Shopping Tips:
How to Get 100% Health Insurance Coverage and Still Save
We pride ourselves in being able to show our clients how they can get 100% of their typical health care needs paid for and STILL SAVE money! We do this using simple sensible (yet little known) health care financial planning methods which we will be happy to show you. When you learn what they are you will say to yourself, "Why didn't I think of that?".Or, you might wonder why a trusted financial advisor didn't tell you. One reason they might not have told you is that health insurance is very technical. This is why it is crucial to consult specialists in the health insurance field to assist you.
Here is how you do it. Let's say you would like your annual physical to be covered. Your doctor charges $90 for the exam. Along with that there are $50 worth of preventative screenings. You also have high blood pressure and your high blood pressure medication costs about $30 a month. You wear eyeglasses and you'd like an annual eye exam. That costs about $60.
You are considering and HMO because you like the fact that the plan will cover the check-ups and screenings with minimal co-payments. The cost of the HMO is $250 per month and has network restrictions but covers your prescription with a $20 co-pay.
You have also heard about another insurance that costs a lot less but doesn't seem to cover what you want it to cover. It has a $100 deductible and 50% coverage on the next $2500 of expenses and covers 100% after that. The premiums for someone your age , a 34 year old male are about $80 a month.
Lets see which plan will enable you to get the things you want covered for less cost. With the HMO you will pay $3000 in premiums; two doctors visit co-pays totaling $20 and twelve $20 drug co-pays for a total of $240 so your total cost for the HMO in a good year when you don't get sick is $3260.
The other plan will cost you $90 per month and won't cover your prescriptions for two years due to the fact that the high blood pressure is pre-existing. The plan will let you apply your regular check-up to your deductible and will cover the screenings subject to the balance of the deductible and the co-insurance. However it won't cover your eye exam. If you chose this plan your bottom line health care costs for 100% coverage would be $1080 in premiums plus your $100 deductible that would be covered by your check up and $10 worth of screenings. Your share of the coinsurance on the balance of the screenings would be $20. You'd pay for the $60 eye exam because this plan only covers one annual physical per person per year. You'd also pay half of the $30 prescription cost per month totaling $180. Adding everything together 1080+100+20+60 + 180 =1440 your total for the other plan that seemed not to cover what you want saves you $1820 at the end of the year AFTER you got all the things you wanted paid for.
True Health Care Cost Breakdown/Comparison
* The HMO other plan
| Premiums | 250/mo x12=3000 | 90/mo x12 = 1080 |
| Co-pays, deductibles coinsurance, |
40 +240=280 | 100+20+180=300 |
| Not Covered | $60 eye exam | |
| Total Cost | $3280 | $1440 |
Even though you technically wrote the check for the things the plan didn't cover. Isn't it more important to get what you want taken care of than to pay $1820 extra just so the insurance company pays the provider for the visit and you don't have to? Ask yourself this question. Which would I rather have, $1820 more at the end of the year and have to pay for my own annual check ups or $1820 less in my bank account and have the insurance pay for two check ups minus co-pays that I pay? It is as simple as that.