Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Your Family means too much to go without Family Health Insurance

By Jeff Cline

If you want to save money and add financial security to your household opt for Family health insurance. Not only is pocketbook protection in case of injury or illness it is an important factor for keeping you family healthy. People are more likley to get preventative care if the have insurance, increasing their health.

Many people purchase health insurance and never realize how to use it to their advantage and end up loseing money anyways. We will give you a few tips and resources to make better financial decions when it comes to you family health insuarnce.

First things first, once you have found a plan that you find satisfactory to your families budget and needs you will receive "evidence of coverage". This is a booklet of all the details of the plan and carrier. Taking the time to know these details is the one most important thing you can do. Not knowing can cost you money.

How would you like the insurer to refuse payment due to a small detail? It happens very often. That is why it is important to know the details. Exclusions, limitations, maxiumums, pre authorization and network benefits are all misunderstood if you do not know the details.

If you have a PPO one simple way to save some money for a rainy day is to take advantage of the Network. If you choose to see a doctor that is a in-network provider you get a negogiated rate. Sometimes you get the added co pay benefit also.

You do have the freedom to choose any doctor you wish, but if they are not in the network it will cost you alittle more. For starters the insurer shares less cost with you. And your out of network provider is not under contract for negogiated rates. So you will end up paying more.

If you do not know the pre authorization rules you could lose big. If you do not follow procedure they will deny the claim, leaving you to pick up the entire expense. Now that is good reason to understand pre authorization!

A good rule of thumb is to verify your benefits before a scheduled visit to bypass any confusion or misunderstanding. Your carrier has a customer service department ready and willing to answer you questions. You pay for it, so do not hesitate to use it.

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