One of the most stressful events is when someone in your family gets sick or hurt. They need medical attention and you’re not 100% clear about the best place to take them so that you are still covered by your health insurance. Getting medical help is VERY expensive these days and if you don’t follow the guidelines of your specific plan, you could be costing yourself a ton of money.
I speak from experience. We recently switched to a new health insurance provider and we’re now on a high deductible plan. I got clarity of how to ensure there is money in the Health Savings Account (HSA) account so if something happens I can claim the expenses. I had started the process of choosing a new doctor for all of us but hadn’t finished.
Then, of course it happened. This week, in the middle of the night, my oldest son had terrible stomach pains so bad we took him to the hospital emergency room. At 3:00AM I am logging onto my healthcare provider’s system to find which hospital is “in-network”. (Let me tell you now they could find nothing wrong with my son after blood tests, an xray and an ultrasound and think it may be a strained muscle for which nothing can be done. Now we wait.)
Not only am I sitting in the hospital worried about my son, but I’m also stressing out inside about how much this is going to cost and what is the process. When I spoke with the hospital billing department I had no clue what would happen next. (We’d been on an HMO plan before where everything was covered.) My stress was dumb, dumb, dumb!
Here’s what we should all know about our health insurance to save time, money and stress.
- Choose your primary care doctor. Take the time to peruse the list of in-network doctors. Schedule your annual physical so you have a relationship with them so they know about you as a patient. Know their hours and choose someone who is available at nights and on weekends if this is important to you. Add this to your contact system, like Outlook.
- Choose an urgent care facility near you. Depending on your medical issue, this type of facility may be best and is definitely cheaper than the hospital. Pick one near you and know their hours. Most are not open at night or on the weekends. Add them to your contact system.
- Choose your hospital. Look at the ratings, ask friends for advice and see who your doctor uses.
- Ask your health insurance provider how billing works. Ask for each of the different service providers above. Will you pay at the time of service? If so, how much? Can you use a credit card? What will NOT be covered? What is your deductible and when does it max out?
- Type all this info up on a list. Get the information out of your head and onto paper. If you are the one who is hurt, you won’t be able to provide the information to anyone else. Include the id and password to the online system plus any phone numbers for your healthcare provider. Put the list in a place everyone at home can get at.
- Give pertinent info to your employer. Edit the info list above to include only your specific details (not the rest of your family or your access codes). Place a copy in your desk at work and tell your Supervisor where it is. Better yet, give a copy to HR and let them put it with your emergency information.
I hate dealing with health insurance as much as you do. Yes, it is confusing and there is SO much paperwork that it seems over whelming. Yes, we have to make decisions and we’re not sure if they are right. Especially if you are self-employed, the options and costs can make your head spin.
The key is to take the time to do your research in advance and to document it. When we have a medical emergency is not the time to have to worry about anything else except how our loved ones are doing.
(A note to employers: YOU need to know what to do if someone at work gets hurt or is sick, even if it is not work-related. We care about our staff like we do our family, be sure you can react quickly just like you would at home. Give everyone 15 minutes to write the information down above and give it to you. Be sure they are clear who you will use in the case of an emergency so they can tell their family.)
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