A Helpful Guide to Health Insurance: Save Money & Get Better Benefits

1. A HelpfulGuide With What You Need To Know About Health Insurance Tips For Saving Money & Getting Better Benefits

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Intro – The Basics 2 How To Choose A Plan 3 How To Use Premium Dollars 4 Conclusion – Tax Penalty For Uninsured

3. Chapter One TITLE OF THIS CHAPTER SHALL GO HERE Intro – The Basics

4. The Basics 4 Major Areas of Health Insurance • Thanks for downloading our ebook! In this ebook we will explain what you need to know before purchasing health insurance. We will discuss the basics, how to choose a plan, how to use premium dollars and more. This first chapter is about the basics. • The 4 major areas of your insurance are the deductible, co-pays, co-insurance and prescription drug coverage. Familiarize yourself with these terms and know what your plans offer in these areas. • Here are the definitions for these terms: • Deductible:A fixed dollar amount during the benefit period (usually a calendar year) that an insurance person pays before the insurer starts to make payments for covered medical services. Plans may have both per individual and family deductibles. • Co-Pays: A form of medical cost sharing in a health insurance plan that requires an insured person to pay a fixed dollar amount when a medical service is received. The insurer is responsible for the rest of the reimbursement. • Co-Insurance: A form of medical cost sharing in a health insurance plan that requires an insured person to pay a stated percentage of medical expenses after deductible amount, if any was paid. (Examples of Co-Insurance are: 80/20, 70/30, 50/50. These are most common) • Prescription Drug Coverage: A form of coverage specifically for prescription drugs. This is usually a fixed co-pay amount depending on what tier the prescription falls under (prescription in some cases are subject to deductible).

5. The Basics 4 Major Areas of Health Insurance

6. Chapter Two TITLE OF THIS CHAPTER SHALL GO HERE How To Choose A Plan

7. Chapter 2 How To Choose A Plan • Here a few things to help you in choosing your health insurance plan: • Do Your Research - First of all, things are always changing, so when decided what plan to choose it would be a good idea to do some research on your own. If you are still confused or would like to consult a healthcare solution specialist, American Health Plans is here for you. • Check For Government Subsidies - The second thing you would want to make sure of is if you qualify for a government subsidy. If you earn below a certain amount of income, the government will provide financial assistance to help you purchase health insurance. • Check For Your Doctor - The third thing to consider is if your doctor is in your network. If you have a preferred doctor, be sure to check if they are in your network before signing up. HMO's are the most restrictive plans. PPO's let you go outside the network for a higher fee.  • Deductible/Premium Factors - The fourth thing to check is how much you paid last year. What was your deductible? Did you hit it? How many times did you go to the hospital? How much did you pay for prescription drugs? If you have money saved up and/or are looking to save some money, you might want to consider a higher deductible plan which means you will pay a lower premium per month. There are ways to still protect yourself against paying a high deductible, which will discuss in the next chapter. • Check All Your Options - The bottom line is that it is possible to get lower prices and/or more benefits with alternatives to employer health plans and alternatives to plans on the government marketplace. Make sure you look at all your options.

8. Chapter Three TITLE OF THIS CHAPTER SHALL GO HERE How To Use Premium Dollars

9. Chapter 3 Can You Afford To Use Your Health Insurance? • Health Insurance is a type of insurance coverage that pays for medical and surgical expenses incurred by the insured. Unfortunately, many people aren’t able to actually take advantage of many of the benefits their plans offer because they cannot afford to pay the high deductibles, therefore causing them to have to file for bankruptcy. • The best way to illustrate this concept is with an example. • Example • Let’s look at a hypothetical non-smoking 30-year-old male. The national average premium for a 30-year-old on a 2017 silver plan is $364 with an average deductible of $3,572, according to HealthPocket.  For that same individual, the national average premium on a 2017 bronze plan is $311 with a $6,092 deductible. • By moving the client from a silver plan to a bronze plan, we save them $53 per month on premium, but we increase their deductible by $2,520. This is where ancillary products come in.  In this case, the client could buy a combination of critical illness, hospital indemnity and accident insurance to help cover the additional deductible exposure and still save money over the silver plan. Here’s how it works: • -The critical illness plan will pay a lump sum of $10,000 upon the diagnosis of cancer, heart attack, stroke or a number of other critical conditions. • -The hospital confinement plan will pay a daily benefit of $1,000 for every day the client is confined to a hospital room. • -The accident plan will pay (in the event of an accident) a lump sum hospital confinement benefit of $2,500, $250 per accident for emergency room or urgent care treatment, $250 for a major diagnostic exam, $50 per follow-up treatment (maximum of five per year) and $50 per follow-up physical therapy treatment (maximum of five per year). • Together, the premiums on these three products total $33, so we can couple these with the bronze plan and still save $20 compared to the silver plan alone.  With this approach, we’ve managed to save the client money while offering a solution that will help them pay their deductible in the event of a critical illness, accidental injury or hospital stay.  Furthermore, these benefits often are more than enough to offset the difference in deductibles, meaning the client has more cash in hand when they need it most.

10. Chapter 3 A Better Way To Use Your Premium Dollars With this approach, we’ve managed to save the client money while offering a solution that will help them pay their deductible in the event of a critical illness, accidental injury or hospital stay.  Furthermore, these benefits often are more than enough to offset the difference in deductibles, meaning the client has more cash in hand when they need it most. “

11. Key Tip: Savvy shoppers many times combine ancillary products such as critical illness or accident policies with high deductible plans for more comprehensive coverage. This keeps your costs low and helps you avoid paying a high deductible if something major happens. In other words, it provides insurance for your deductible. 62% of bankruptcies are medically related and 78% of them had health insurance. Make sure you understand where the gaps in your coverage are and the options available to help. “

12. Chapter Four TITLE OF THIS CHAPTER SHALL GO HERE Conclusion

13. Chapter 4 Conclusion • Health insurance can be confusing. That combined with the cost causes some people to choose to go without any coverage. Here are some things to know if you are considering going without health insurance: • Uninsured Tax Penalty • If you can afford health insurance but choose not to buy it, you must pay a fee called the individual shared responsibility payment. (The fee is sometimes called the "penalty," "fine," or "individual mandate.") • You owe the fee for any month you, your spouse, or your tax dependents don’t have qualifying health coverage (sometimes called "minimum essential coverage").  • You pay the fee when you file your federal tax return for the year you don’t have coverage. • Fee For Not Having Insurance • Calculated 2 different ways – as a percentage of your household income, and per person. You’ll pay whichever is higher. • Percentage of income • 2.5% of household income. Maximum: Total yearly premium for the national average price of a Bronze plan sold through the Marketplace • Per person • $695 per adult$347.50 per child under 18Maximum: $2,085

14. Contact Us Today We hope this has been helpful for yo. If you still have any questions or would just like to talk things over with us to make sure you are making the best decision, feel free to give us a call anytime at our toll free number (866)-487-9887 or visit our website www.ahpins.com.