Introduction
Applying for cross health insurance can mean the difference between savings a person’s life or being able to meet extremely high health care bills. However, determining the right amount of coverage for ones health needs can be a bit of a challenge considering the amount of jargon used in the industry and number of options available to clients. Here are some factors you should consider while applying for cross health insurance.
Step 1
There are certain terms which are commonly used in the health care industry, which are important to understand in order to select the right cross health insurance option. These include:
Step 2
Contributions: this refers to your health insurance premium, which is deducted from your paycheck on a pre-tax basis on its due date. Depending on your cross health insurance plan, you may have separate contribution amounts for dental, medical and vision coverage.
Step 3
Co-payments: this refers to a flat amount you will pay each time for your visit to the doctor’s office or for prescription drugs at the pharmacy. The higher the premiums on your cross health insurance the lower your co-payments will be.
Step 4
The deductibles: this refers to the amount of money you pay before the cross health insurance kicks in. Deductibles will normally apply to hospital visits and surgical procedures. A $400 deductible will mean that your bill must exceed $400 before the insurance picks up the extra cost.
Step 5
Coinsurance: this refers to the amount you pay for certain coverage, and is computed as a percentage of the insurance cost versus a flat dollar amount. In layman’s terms, this is the percentage of the bill you pay after the deductible kicks in. for instance, a 70 percent coinsurance means that you will pay 30 percent of the cross health insurance costs, after the deductible.
Tips
Health-Maintenance Organizations (HMO) and Preferred-Provider Organizations (PPO): These are different types of health care plans. HMOs are often less expensive than PPO, however they are more rigid. They will require that you choose a primary care physician and you will also be required to obtain referrals and pre-authorization in order to see a specialist. PPOs on the other hand will provide applicants with a financial incentive to stay within the group’s network of practitioners, in the form of reasonably priced copayments. It also allows you to visit out of network specialists without pre-approval. However, all this advantages will come at a higher cost as compared to HMO. You will therefore need to decide whether flexibility or a lower cost will be more important for your cross health insurance option.
Sources and Citations
Flexible spending account (FSA): this is a benefit plan that enables companies to give their employees the option to pay for their out of pocket cross health insurance, dependent and health care costs on a pretax basis. This program should help you to reduce the pay-roll related taxes for both the employee and the employer. The deposited pretax money in your FSA will be able to take care of out of pocket expenses in the areas mentioned above. However, if you don’t use money you have allocated into your FSA by the end of the year, you will lose it.
