How To Get The Best Health Insurance
In case you haven't heard, the world of health insurance has changed and will continue to do so for the next few years, at least. If you're currently in the market for a new plan, this article will show you that there are several things that you need to know about the latest changes so that you can find the plan that's best for you.
Understand you and your families health status when shopping for insurance. If you are a single healthy person, you can take the risk and go for a low-cost, super-high, deductible plan, as the odds are that you will not need to use it as often. If there is a history of illness or if you have children, you will want to pay a little more per month for a lower deductible.
When looking for health insurance, always shop around. Insurance plans can vary greatly from company to company. One might offer a lower deductible, while another offers better coverage. Shopping around can help you to understand your options. Your individual needs will determine which plan works best for you.
Read your health insurance policy carefully before you go out and buy glasses or get your teeth fixed. Most healthcare insurers offer dental as a separate policy, and many do not offer vision insurance at all. Better to know up front whether your vision care is covered than to be greeted with a bill from the eye doctor and not be able to pay it.
Buy copies of your own medical records when searching for health insurance. There are facilities available that allow you to purchase valid, legal copies of your own medical records, and having these will allow you to accurately confirm or deny what the insurance company asks of you. It will also let you check for mistakes in your records.
Never go without health insurance. While a few people never get sick or injured, the chances that you will not get sick, are astronomical. Protect yourself from falling into medical debt by getting insurance, even if it is only the bare minimum. You do not want to be left untreated just because you can't afford it.
When it comes time for re-enrollment with your health care plan, make sure to check and see what if anything has changed. Insurance companies change premiums, co-pays, and covered services on a frequent basis. Make sure you know exactly what has changed so you aren't caught off guard.
Is an HMO really the best way to go? It is a difficult question. With an HMO you have very little out of pocket costs however you probably do not get to pick which doctors you get to see. With a PPO you should be able to have more of a choice but will have to put out more money. In the end it depends on what your needs might be.
Purchasing a good health care policy is amongst one of the most important decisions of your life, and you should make an educated choice. Know what each individual policy offers, deductibles, and co-pays. What you don't want is to purchase a policy blindly and find out in the event of an emergency you don't have the coverage you need.
Increase your out-of-pocket expenses. The majority of insurance companies have an option with lower monthly premiums if you are prepared to pay higher out-of-pocket payments like a yearly deductible or more for prescription medications. This is a great plan for someone who is in general good health and doesn't anticipate any major medical bills in the near future.
If you want to save money, you should choose an HMO plan. You will pay less every month, and very low or no deductibles. But you will be limited to a list of approved doctors and hospitals. If this list satisfies you, choosing an HMO plan is the best decision.
When seeking pet health insurance, you should ask your vet for recommendations. Your vet can usually give you good ideas about the experiences of other patients pet-parents. Additionally, you should look for pet health insurance companies that provide lots of good testimonials and ask your friends about any experiences they have had with pet health insurance.
This cannot be overstated. It is imperative that you read each document related to your policy, so that you know what is covered and what isn't. Make sure that your doctor is covered by the policy; if your provider and doctor won't work together, you'll be paying a lot more money.
If you are between jobs, try to get short-term health insurance, instead of waiting to be covered by an employer-sponsored plan. It might take you a while to find the next job and the risk of having no health coverage is too great. One catastrophic event can devastate you financially. Short-term coverage can be a good temporary solution, in the meantime.
Before applying for health insurance, check with the Medical Information Bureau to see if the have a file on you. This medical information is accessible to most major insurance companies. Make sure you do not have anything on your file that would compromise you getting a good deal on health insurance.
If you're on the phone with your insurance company after applying for health coverage, it's okay to say I don't know! It's better to admit you have no idea about the answer to a question than to make up an answer, or fudge the truth. Tell them that they'll need to contact your doctor for that information and they'll do just that!
If you make a lot of money in your own small business, it is probably cheaper for you to get private health insurance. There will be no influence on the telehealth telemedicine cost of your premiums from the amount of your income, so it won't go up or down as your earnings do.
It is important to shop around and request quotes from numerous health insurance providers before purchasing a policy. Comparing rates is the easiest way to ensure that you are paying the lowest rate available. Even if you currently have insurance, you should compare rates at least once a year to see if additional savings are available.
Obtaining health insurance is a necessary part of living a healthy life. Planning for your future (and your family's) is vital so you can stay healthy and in good financial standing. Use the tips above to help you begin this very important planning today. Don't wait, get health insurance today!
Telehealth and telemedicine for coronavirus: What it is and how to use it now
What is telemedicine?
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, telemedicine is defined as “the practice of medicine using technology to deliver care at a distance. A physician in one location uses a telecommunications infrastructure to deliver care to a patient at a distant site.”
Testa says his hospital is using telemedicine both within and outside the hospital to manage the influx of patients needing care. “We're using video visits inside of our hospitals, and inside of our emergency departments, to minimize exposure to our staff, as well as exposure to other patients who are immunocompromised,” he says.
How to use telemedicine
A good place to start is to check with your health care provider, provider system or hospital’s app for a telemedicine portal, download it and follow the prompts.
“We've been doing video visits for over a year and a half — we've already done about 15,000 of them,” says Testa. “What we've learned in interviewing our patients is that more often than not, they had plans to either go to their primary care doctor and it is off-hours, or they had planned to go to a brick-and-mortar urgent care. Virtual urgent care is just more convenient than those options.”
At NYU Langone, for example, Testa says these video visits are fully integrated into patients’ online health profiles, and visible to their primary care doctors who can easily see what labs or X-rays have been ordered.
If you don’t have a primary care doctor and prefer to use urgent care when you need it, virtual urgent care apps, like PlushCare, Doctor on Demand or MDLive, can give you virtual access to a doctor, 24/7.
Ryan McQuaid, CEO and co-founder of PlushCare, says that under normal circumstances, patients who use his telemedicine platform tend to use it as a primary care provider.
He says these patients usually fall into three buckets: They use telemedicine to manage ongoing conditions, like depression, diabetes or hypertension; everyday care issues like hair loss or birth control; and urgent care issues, like cold and flu, sinus infections or UTIs. And their patients aren’t just tech-forward millennials — McQuaid says elderly patients have begun to embrace telemedicine.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZiSk2MOF17UdugnGNqOAojsLDrM0Qu-pLwshdGqch_M/edit?usp=sharing
Los Angeles clinic puts underprivileged community at greater risk of contracting coronavirus, health care workers say
The clinics serve an area where the proportion of people living below the poverty line is more than double the national average, according to census data. Many patients live in multifamily homes or homeless shelters and have chronic medical conditions, compounding their chances of contracting and spreading the coronavirus, the eight professionals said. African Americans and Latinos have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"My fear is that once it hits this patient population, it will be the epicenter of L.A.," one of the professionals said.
When the coronavirus broke out, some of the professionals called patients to reschedule routine visits and refill prescriptions over the phone, but they were quickly reprimanded by management and told not to call their own patients, they said.
"This is the first place I've worked that as a provider I'm not given the autonomy to care for them [my patients] medically," one of them said after having encountered resistance to suggesting that patients with non-urgent needs be moved to telehealth visits.
"When you're suppressing the expertise, the knowledge, the morals, the morale of providers who are here to take care of an underserved people, you're almost just kind of re-oppressing them," the professional said.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ZiSk2MOF17UdugnGNqOAojsLDrM0Qu-pLwshdGqch_M/edit?usp=sharing
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