Getting The “Monkey” Off Your Back
Having a family and no healthcare insurance will eat at you—especially if you’re the head of the household, and you “bring home the bacon”, as the saying goes. As a provider, you’ve got to ask yourself: what happens when my spouse or children get sick? For some families, keeping a health fund can work; but should a disease or injury happen, it may not be enough.
Thoughts like these can and will eat at you over time. They’ll stress you out, and they may stress your spouse out. If you’ve got your health, and you’ve got a roof over your head, you’ve got more than most the world. How quickly such a situation can change! Without insurance, the cost of medical help may be something that totally ruins your life. So you need to plan.
Health insurance is something strongly recommended for any family. It’s integral for you to have some sort of security here, and in this writing we’ll briefly explore four tips to help you reduce the stress of not having health insurance by choosing the best option for your family’s unique situation.
Choose Your Market: PPO, HMO, EPO, POS Or Other Options?
First, what is the best option from the choices available? You want to answer this question before you delve into associated expenses. Basically, the primary solutions are Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs), Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), Point Of Sale (POS) options, Exclusive Provider Organizations (EPOs), and private options.
You may be thinking, “What’s the difference between an HMO and a PPO?” An HMO is cheaper than a PPO, but you’ve got to stick inside their network, and that can be limited depending on your provider. PPOs are more expensive, but you can find solutions outside your network. POS is basically just shelling out the cash when you need health services. EPOs might only provide options for a select group—employers often use this option.
There’s a fifth alternative, and that’s going with solutions like Medi-Share, where money is pooled in a shared credit union account and paid out when a health emergency develops. Such options tend to be cheaper and more expansive, but there could be a limit to available coverage stemming from the health condition.
All of these options are more or less appropriate for families depending on their situation. You’ve got to sit down, consider what your family needs, and find out which of these best represents you.
Once Your Market Is Found, Compare Different Networks
After you’ve determined which of these options will work best for you and your family, the next thing you need to do is compare and contrast. Which markets have better prices, which have doctors that you trust, how expansive are networks, and what sort of bargaining room—if any—do you have? Oftentimes you’ll have none, but this isn’t always the case.
Weigh Costs And Consider Employer Insurance Supplementation
There are times when you’ve got employer insurance options, and they cover some health issues, but not enough to fully represent you or your family. In such a situation it’s better for you to acquire a solution from without your employer to supplement where they don’t cover you. Think of it like a venn diagram of health coverage. Both intersect at some points.
Employer insurance tends to have more coverage gaps than solutions you’re able to find on your own—though again, this isn’t always the case. Some people find jobs based solely on the sort of health insurance benefits packages they offer.
Understand What Options The Government Makes Available
The government may provide healthcare solutions for you based on your time of life, your particular situation, and your past action. However, it’s notable that government options tend to have a limitation in terms of effectiveness. Because the government is large, and serves many, there is a massive bureaucratic component with cracks big enough to swallow families.
A great example of this is the Veteran’s Association. VA benefits are hard to cash in on, and there have been many who should receive coverage under this government program who either don’t, or have to wait much too long. So the truth is this: while there are available government options that may provide effective Medicare supplement solutions, trusting in them solely isn’t always feasible.
However, associated costs of multiple healthcare programs isn’t always something you can afford as a family. It may be that your best option is depending on what is available through the government. This is a double-edged sword. You may get a plan that looks good on paper, and is affordable, but which doesn’t deliver on what it promises to.
Definitely, you want to research not only what insurance providers say, but how those who have such coverage feel about it. Do they think it works? Are they satisfied? Or do they have nothing but bad things to say?
Make A Careful Choice Informed By The Facts
In order to properly serve your family in terms of healthcare, there are multiple things you’ll need to consider. Look into government options, weigh the costs of employer options as supplemented through secondary solutions, compare and contrast networks, and look at all the options you have available to you. Taking steps like these will help you make the best possible solution for you and your family pertaining to healthcare.
