Currently, while most of walk around unsure of what to expect from the economy, it is satisfying to know that your health insurance coverage is covered by network health providers. This is a combined cooperation that targets those of us who are covered to rest assure that no matter what your medical necessities may be, your local network health providers are there to provide the comfort security of knowing they remain committed to you and your future health concerns.

Additionally, the network health providers involved in your plan are a diverse group of physicians that are board certified to treat you. It is highly advisable to thoroughly research your network health providers before you commit to your choice. Moreover, this will help to filter out physicians by location, and most importantly by the medical practice or specialty practiced by your chosen physician.

Furthermore, keep in mind as you investigate through the list of network health providers , it is important to try and stay flexible and be willing to make some sacrifices if need be that may arise along the way during your search.

There may be some cases that highlight convenient treatment hours, however, they may start later on the day, or perhaps are farther away in distance. However, beware that even though some network health providers may provide something else as an added benefit to continue further with them, some may fall short in some other areas.

An additional perk of utilizing network health providers, is it provides ample time, flexibility and most importantly freedom to choose the right care.

If you need help selecting the best health insurance plan for you and your family, please contact us at (816) 322 6350 or visit our website with more information on health insurance for individuals and/or small business health insurance.

Life can certainly be crazy and fast-paced and things do get lost. This video will help explain what you should do when you lose your health insurance card.

The best policy is of course to make sure it is always in a safe place like your wallet or purse, to make sure you know at all times where your wallet or purse is and not to leave it unattended.

Losing items like credit cards, drivers licenses and health insurance cards can not only be very costly and nerve wrecking but it can also destroy your identity.

Fortunately replacing a health insurance card is a fairly simple process which should take only a few days.

If you need more information about health insurance in general, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Heritage Companies – 816 322 6350

What Is A Deductible For Health Insurance?

Health insurance deductibles are a way to help offset the cost of health care. Health insurance deductibles require the insured (the person who is covered under a health insurance policy) to pay a certain amount toward his health coverage before the insurance company has to begin paying under the health insurance policy.

The insurance company considers the amount of the health insurance deductible when determining how much the premiums for the health insurance coverage will be. The higher the deductible is, the lower the premiums are likely to be.

How Health Insurance Deductibles Are Applied

If a health insurance policy includes deductibles, then the insured must pay a certain amount of money toward his health care before the insurance company has to pay anything under the health insurance policy.

For example, if an insured has a $1,000 deductible toward his hospital/surgical coverage, then he is responsible for paying the hospital for the first $1,000 of health costs incurred. After he pays the first $1,000, then the insurance company will begin paying toward health care costs after the initial $1,000 as laid out under the terms of the policy.

If you are still unclear about what a deductible for health insurance is, don’t hesitate to contact us at (816) 322 6350 or read more about Health Insurance for Individuals OR Small Business Health Insurance.

What is co-insurance? Co-insurance is an ignored idea regarding acquiring and upholding health insurance.

You will find many people who are not insured enough. It is possible that just one or two medium losses on their existing policy could create an enormous financial adversity.

Before we continue it is important to note that insurance laws differ from state to state, so don’t take one’s law for granted. Exact wording and use of grammar may be different between states.

This article will simply try to explain what co-insurance is and the main concept behind it. You are also encouraged to verify your existing policies.

A Simple Definition of Co-insurance:

Co-insurance is a strategy based on sharing the risk between you and the insurance company. The concept behind is that you as the insured will have to share the risk with the company that insures you, while you shall not misuse the coverage.

The majority of property and health policies stand on a 80/20 co-insurance clause. This clause ascertains with the contract that the insurance company will have to pay 80 percent of the incidentals beyond the deductible, whereas the insured will have to pay 20 percent up to some limit. This limit is called a stop-loss.

For an easier understanding about what co-insurance is let us look at an example: You have an accident with the total hospitalization costs of $20,000. Your existing healthy policy contains an 80/20 co-insurance clause, deductible of $1000 and a stop-loss limit of $4,000.

In the above example, how much is insurance company liable to pay and how much are you responsible for?

First of all, your contract contains a deductible. Due to your policy, you are accountable to pay the amount of your deductible, say $1,000. Following, you have to pay 20% of the remaining $19,000, which is $3,800. So your final costs of the entire hospital bill would be $4,800.

Always double-check your policies and understand what co-insurance is to ensure you know that your coverage fits your needs and what you will be responsible for.

If you need more information please contact us at (816) 322 6350 or visit our website.

If you are fortunate enough to have medical insurance then you likely have to pay a copay when you go the doctor or get a prescription. But what is copay? Copay is the amount that a patient has to pay every time they see a doctor, pick up a prescription, or have a surgical procedure performed. The amount of copay depends upon the insurance company and the plan of the patient – whether it is health insurance for small businesses or for individuals.

Copay serves two functions:

A) First it makes the patient partly responsible for the cost of their medical care thus alleviating some of the burden from the insurance company.

B) Second a copay serves as a deterrent to keep individuals from seeking out unneeded visits to the doctor, medical procedures, and prescription drugs.

In an ideal world a copay would serve it’s purpose and help to keep costs down for insurance companies. Unfortunately sometimes a higher copay has a negative effect on a patient. For example if a person is seriously ill but cannot afford the copay on their medication, they may be forced to go without it.

Copay is a system designed to help reduce the cost of business for insurance companies by ensuring responsible action on the part of patients. While it is certainly understandable and even necessary for insurance companies to protect themselves, a closer evaluation of how much a patient must pay who is in serious need of medical care might be warranted.

Even though a copay poses a potential issue in that it might cause financial hardships for patients, it is necessary. Without a copay the potential for abuse of the medical system would place hardships upon insurance companies. With a higher cost of doing business the cost of insurance would go up, which in turn would make insurance too expensive placing an even greater hardship upon patients than a copay does.

If you need more information about co-pays or anything regarding health insurance, please call us at (816) 322 6350 or visit our website at www.HeritageKC.com.

If you do not know what HSA stands for, it is known as Health Savings Account, which is a user friendly tool made available for customers to save money on their health insurance bills. More about what is HSA is explained here.

HSAs are not insurance policies; they are actually tools that can be used along with a policy.This type of plan has become the most talked about among people who refer to their health savings plans as an HSA plan or HSA related medical plan.

Why choose health savings accounts? Because these plans will help you:

You will save money on healthcare bills

Various options are given on how you want to spend your medical care funds

Less taxes will be payable

Find out how the health savings accounts idea works:

Insurance can be a complex subject for many people, but the concept behind health savings plans is really simple.
The health savings account is a simple bank account with unique features. You can open the account in your name and add anyone you wish, such as your family and employer. Money can be deposited into the account to save for future healthcare bills.

As for the special features mentioned about earlier:

You should know that every penny paid into this health plan account is tax deductible, and as long as the funds are used for the sole purpose of eligible medical bills, you will not be liable to pay any tax on the money. You can save between 25 to 40 percent on the money paid into this account, depending on your annual earnings.

Just like normal bank accounts, any money you have not used to pay for your medical bills, will be rolled over to the new tax year so you can increase your savings. This way you will not lose the money that has been saved up in your account. Since you have full control of the health saving account, you are free to move it with you if you move to another state, change your job or stop working.

What you may not be aware of is that all your unused savings in this account earn tax free interest. There are many banks that will allow you to invest a percentage of your money in the stock market, government bonds and other investments to earn higher interest. You are not likely to find another savings vehicle that offers you easy access to your money, various investment options and tax free income.

Is this type of policy better than other insurance plans?

An HSA insurance plan is not as risky as other policies. You will not be turned down when you need to make a claim. This is because when you join this account with the most appropriate insurance plan, you can save money by paying lower premiums. That way you will only need to use the funds when you need to. Even with your existing medical conditions, you will still be able to make a claim, if you acquire an HDHP with an HSA.

Call us today at (816) 322 6350 or visit our website at www.HeritageKC.com

How the Health Insurance Waiting Period Affects Consumers – A Brief Explanation of HIPAA and Consumers’ Rights

This article provides an overview of HIPAA and the rights of consumers to have health insurance coverage. Since the law went into effect in 1996, Title I ensures that any individual who gets pregnant, becomes divorced, loses a job, moves to a new location or switches job cannot be denied coverage by any provider.

Many consumers worry about what will happen to their existing coverage if something unexpected happens and they end up unemployed through no fault of their own. People with preexisting conditions are always worried about having a new carrier deny them coverage when they finally find a new job.

Some people will attempt to make a living working for themselves but individual policies are generally very expensive. Others have to accept a position with an employer who does not have a group coverage plan. This article will provide a general sense of what the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act does for consumers.

The Effects of HIPAA on Group Coverage or Small Business Health Insurance Plans

Under the provision of this act, group insurance providers may not deny coverage to any individual for a preexisting condition. This does not mean that an individual is guaranteed coverage. Some employers impose their own requirements based on whether an employee works full time or just a few hours a week. Sometimes coverage is dependent on whether the employee draws an hourly wage or a salary.

Employees must sometimes wait a minimum number of days before coverage kicks in. Either the employer or the provider may impose the wait.

Some business owners require an employee to be working on the actual day coverage takes effect. There is an exception if the employee is sick on that day. A delay in coverage may occur if the employee is waiting to start work.

In many households, the policy provided by one spouse’s employer will cover every member of the household. If that spouse loses the job, the provider working with the other spouse’s employer must offer special enrollment if the plan covers employees’ dependents. If the family adds a dependent through birth, marriage or adoption, the same special enrollment rule applies.

As long as an individual has had creditable coverage for 12 consecutive months, the group provider cannot impose preexisting condition exclusions on the insured. If an exclusion is applied for someone who has not had coverage for more than 63 days, the insured is still covered for treatments unrelated to the preexisting condition.

All employees who have similar positions with the company must pay the same premium for coverage. If two people share the same job description, the insurer cannot require one to pay more for the same policy.

If you need more information about the health insurance waiting period, please call us at (816) 322 6350 to speak to one of our agents.