Yostus Hanna | Thing to Know Before Choosing a Health Plan

1. Thing to Know Before Choosing a Health Plan “Selecting the best suited insurance plan for you can be challenging, especially for a first-timer,” says Yostus Hanna, the current Senior Business Development Manager of Clifford Hallam Healthcare. The company is located in Port Melbourne, Australia and she has been there since 2019. This article sheds light on the type of plans available and gives you tips on choosing one.

2. If you want detailed information about a particular coverage plan, contact your insurance company. They will give you all the information at their disposal. You can either have direct contact with them or go to their website. “There are some questions you need to ask yourself,” admonished Yostus Hanna. What type of insurance coverage does the insurer offer? Does your healthcare provider, clinic, or pharmacy get coverage from them? Health Insurance Plan Packages There are four types of health insurance packages. They are: ⦁ Bronze ⦁ Silver ⦁ Gold ⦁ Premium These packages have different costs, coverage plans, and compensation plans. The extra benefits are different too. There is no correlation between your insurance plan and the quality of your healthcare provider.

3. Healthcare Cost An insured person has to pay money to the insurer every month, whether you use the healthcare facilities or not. You are liable for other payments when you use the healthcare facilities. So carefully think of the expenses before deciding on an insurance plan. Health Insurance Coverage Plans Network Coverage: Note that internal network (in-network) services and medications have coverage plans. However, external network (out-of-network) services and medications might need extra coverage costs. It might not even fall under your coverage plan. External network payments for external network services are not part of the insurance external pocket limit. Premium Coverage Plans: What is the amount for each coverage plan available? Premium is the money paid to an insurance firm to cover the insurance plan chosen. It doesn’t matter whether you go to the hospital or drugstore. You pay money for premium every month, once you default your payment, you may lose the insurance. There are other types of coverage plan costs. The insured will have to pay deductible and cost-splitting fees.

4. Deductible: “How much are you required to spend before your coverage starts?” Yostus Hanna asked. Assume you have a deductible of $500, you won’t get paid by the insurer until your expenses are $500. External pocket expenses may cover doctor visits, medications. You may not share the costs of body screening and vaccinations. The higher your deductible is, the lower your premium cost every month and vice versa. Insurance firms set deductible targets for their clients to meet before they cover the client’s medical expenses. Ask your insurance company about the type of deductibles available. Is the deductible a combination plan, uni-plan, or a different plan? This will let you the amount you’ll spend for your medical services to be under the coverage. Coinsurance and Copay: Did your insurer tell you you may bear the cost of additional care? You might be extra charged for other expenses despite reaching the deductible target. These extra costs are called Coinsurance and Copay. Copay is the payment for medications detailed on the insurance slip given to you.

5. Coinsurance is the cost ratio payable for medical services or medications given to you. Medication Coverage Plan: Does your insurance policy cover your medication? A list of medicines (formularies) under the coverage plan is given to all insurers. A sense of any prescription from the list shows it is not covered. The insured would have to follow a long process to get the coverage. Prescriptions covered by insurance are split up into levels. These levels will determine the coinsurance or copay costs for the insured. List the prescriptions you’re currently taking, check the formularies to see if they’re there. Then find out the out-of-pocket expenses you have to pay. Types of Insurance Network Available There are four types of insurance networks. They are: ⦁ PPO ⦁ EPO ⦁ HMO ⦁ POS

6. Some plans strictly restrict the insured to only use their network. They charge the insured additional money if they go out of the insurer networks. Other insurers don’t have restrictions. Their clients can use any healthcare service provider they want. Ensure the healthcare facilities you use are within your insurance company’s networks. If you don’t want to change your current doctor, then ask him if he’s inside the network. An in-network healthcare facility is a medical facility that is in contract with an insurance firm. The facility gives medical attention to patients insured by the insurance firm they have a contract with. Doctors, nurses, pharmacies, and other providers are included. In the absence of a doctor, ensure the doctor chosen is within the insurance network. To check, go through the network contacts listed in the plan given to you. The doctor’s details will be stated there, contact him about his working hours. Ask about his level of expertise and the number of new patients. This will equip you with the knowledge of who the doctor is and what he can do. You can further check his credentials with the relevant healthcare associations. Do the same for a specialist doctor.

7. Conclusion Selecting a health insurance plan is made simple when you have little or more knowledge about it. Then you can make a comparison of the various insurance plans out there. “Make sure your healthcare insurance firm is reliable, tested, and trusted.” — advised Yostus Hanna.