Health insurance tips
If you have children in college it is important to read the fine print of your health insurance policy to see at what age their eligibility under your healthcare policy ceases. It varies from one insurance company to another. The student health policies offered at colleges do not provide as extensive coverage as that found in your typical health insurance plan. It may offer a convenient source of health care for your child in college but should not substitute for more in-depth coverage.
The deductible is the part you have to pay before your health insurance company begins to pay for your healthcare claims each year. You can frequently choose from a variety of deductibles. Of course the higher deductible saves you on the front end by lowering premium costs but can cost you in the long run if you have higher medical bills that year, because you will have to pay that amount before your insurance pays anything. If you anticipate higher medical it makes sense to choose a lower deductible. Concerning choosing deductibles, it is important to remember that once you choose a deductible for your family, if that deductible is high and you later decide to lower the deductible, everyone in your family may have to qualify for the lower deductible in order to change it later. In other words, if you later decide to lower a higher deductible you may not be able to, so you should consider choosing a deductible that will make sense for the long term.
Occasionally a person ends up being covered by two health insurance policies, perhaps because they have an individual policy and are also covered by a spouse's health insurance policy at work. While you may think you will be paid twice if you incur a health cost, it does not work that way. Insurance companies have language in their contracts that excludes payments when you are covered by another policy. To make matters worse, if you have two policies, you may find that both companies are slow about processing your claim and may each hold that the other company is responsible for payment.
When searching for the best health insurance policy, be sure to see how much lifetime payments the policy will allow. One of the main reasons for having health insurance in the first place is to be covered in the event of catastrophic health care claims. Most health insurance policies do have limits on the lifetime amount they will pay and frequently will limit the amount paid for any one illness.
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