Saving Money By Understanding Your Health Insurance Coverage

One way you can potentially save money is by knowing what your health insurance policy covers and what your providers charge. Insurance companies make honest mistakes when it comes to reimbursing policy holders,

The place to start is to obtain a current copy of your benefit schedule from your insurance company. Chances are this can be downloaded from the insurance companies website. Make sure it's the correct benefit schedule for your policy and it's the most up to date schedule available. Using the schedule from last year could prove to be a waste of time,

It's absolutely critical that you understand what's contained in the benefits schedule. Only then can you take full advantage of the benefits available. When you access health care and you file a claim the insurance company will send you an EOB or Explanation of Benefits. Take that EOB and look at the amount charged, the amount reimbursed to the provider and the amount that is your responsibility to pay. Also review any amount that was applied to your deductible. Then compare those amounts and the reimbursement to your benefit schedule,This should be done each and every time you access your benefits and receive an Explanation of Benefits. If you assume that the insurance company paid the claim correctly then you are potentially loosing money instead of saving money,

Your policy also contains specific provisions about what is charged to the deductible and what is not charged to the deductible. As example a policy might specify that the first five visits a year to your primary care physician are not subject to deductible. If you get an Explanation of Benefits and it shows you as responsible for the entire amount because it was applied to the deductible and it was your first visit to your primary care physician in that period. a billing error has occurred and you should contact the insurance company in writing.

If you discover mistakes in the reimbursement from your insurance company, contact them in writing and request a correction. Send the appropriate proof and documentation along with your request. Putting your request in writing as compared to calling provides you with proof that the claim was made. When you call there is no proof that you contacted them. If you want proof that the information was received send the claim through the USPS Certified Mail - Return Receipt Requested,

One other reason to put your request in writing concerns the appeals process. If the insurance company denies your claim and you have verified that an error exists follow the appeal procedure contained in their written response to your request. When you get there response the appeal procedure will be outlined in that notice, It's not complicated to file an appeal assuming you have the documentation to back your claim up,

One additional way to save money in this area is to consider changing the deductible you currently are responsible for. To accomplish this you need to analyze the previous claims experience and determine if this move makes sense. Increasing your deductible may result in a lower monthly premium but your out of pocket costs will probably increase. Your insurance company or agent can help you understand the ramifications of increasing your deductible. I recently switched from a $500.00 annual deductible to a $2000.00 annual deductible and saved $207.00/month in premiums. I don’t access health care often so I was comfortable with the change and my increased liability,