A Health Insurance Reality Check
2006-01-19
Its time that you start paying attention to all that paperwork that you are receiving from human resources. It’s that time, the time that open enrollment beacons you. Did you ever think that the insurance you have is changing? The money you pay for that health insurance benefit is also probably going up also. These days we have more choices of were our money is going when it comes to medical expenses.
On average we pay $1.481 on health insurance benefits a year, that is almost $800 more than we were paying four years ago. Co-insurance you may see more than co-pay meaning instead of that convenient $20 you pay at the doctors office you could be paying for a portion of the care you just received. Networks of doctors and hospitals will charge differently than some others.
To get your cost down you may have to pick plans with slightly higher deductibles. A bit of good news is that the insurer is covering preventive care cost even more these days. Do not be fooled by an expensive plan or one with very low premiums is the best to choose. Talk to your employer to find out if there is any extra information that they can relay to you that will help in finding the right policy or plan for you.
After a long while, health savings accounts are starting to pop up at work. Health savings accounts are expected to rise in 2006. To take advantage of these accounts all one needs is a high deductible tagged to your policy. Saving you over $2.000. Your healthcare expenses are paid from a tax-free withdrawal. You may also choose to let it keep rising and take advantage of owing no taxes. Leaving your job is also not a problem you can take your health insurance with you it with you.
Flexible spending accounts have also changed. You now have until March 15th to use it. You can use these pretax dollars to make co-pays on health care, and also remember your plan rules must change. The best idea is to save up an amount that you are sure you will end up using.
Another way is saving up money to fund transportation, (commuting or public). All these funds can be rolled over if you do not spend them. All of us know how expensive it is to travel these days.
With a little saving and keeping an eye on what you spend and how you save it you will find that the benefits you had might not be the benefits you actually wanted.
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