Open Enrollment

Whew! The anxiety that I have regarding selecting the currently offered health insurance plans is real. If you read my latest book F*CK THIS JOB: THE ART OF TRANSITION you would know that I have not been covered with Health Insurance in 2019. After being strongly encouraged by my mother, I plan to choose a plan for 2020. Before one can evaluate the plans, it is important to define two important terms--deductible and co-insurance. I took these definitions directly from Healthcare.gov.

"Deductible is an amount you could owe during a coverage period (usually one year) for covered health care services before your plan begins to pay. An overall deductible applies to all or almost all covered items and services. A plan with an overall deductible may also have separate deductibles that apply to specific services or groups of services. A plan may also have only separate deductibles. (For example, if your deductible is $1000, your plan won’t pay anything until you’ve met your $1000 deductible for covered health care services subject to the deductible."

"Co-insurance is your share of the costs of a covered health care service, calculated as a percentage (for example, 20%) of the allowed amount for the service. You generally pay coinsurance plus any deductibles you owe. (For example, if the health insurance or plan’s allowed amount for an office visit is $100 and you’ve met your deductible, your coinsurance payment of 20% would be $20. The health insurance or plan pays the rest of the allowed amount.)"

After making sure that I understood these terms, I went online to choose my plan. It took me over a week to actually decide what would be better for me. After going through the process, I have a few tips. There are a few things that you should consider before choosing a plan.

1-Options for mental health care

2-Plug in your physician's name to find out if your visits are covered

2-Cost of your current medications

4-Cost for emergency room, primary care, and specialist visits.

I hope that this helps!!