Over the last decade the idea of what NEEDS to be covered by your Texas Health Insurance policy has changed. Dramatically in fact. One of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was the minimum required benefits that had to be included on all compliant policies. As a result, Texans now look for those included benefits like wellness visits, mammograms, maternity benefits, and other important items. But the old saying is that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and that principle applies here as well. All of those included benefits come at a price. And what if your station in life is such that you don't need all or some of them? This is where we truly get into what you need from your health insurance plan.
What Do I Really Need In My Health Insurance Plan?
To determine what you truly need on health your insurance plan, you have to determine predictable usage of health care along with the ability to cover the unknown. Let's break those two items down.
Predictable Usage
All of us have either a history of things we typically do with our doctor's offices. Things like annual or semi-annual visits to the cardiologist or nephrologist. If you have a newborn baby, there are a volume of visits that are scheduled by the pediatrician in the first year of life. Or maybe you have a chronic condition such as diabetes that will require quarterly or more frequent visits to your primary care doc. As we age, tests like colonoscopies and mammograms become more frequent. All of these scenarios are the type of healthcare usage that we can easily predict that we will need. You HAVE to plan for this care in some way.
Covering The Unknown
If you are of adult age, you realize that health expenditures can come at any moment. It can be as simple as the flu or as complicated as an accident that keeps you from work for a month or two. The bottom line is that the bigger the unknown, the bigger the financial price tag becomes. Does your family have a history of early in life cancer or heart disease? Do you participate in high risk activities like rock climbing, mountain biking, or sky diving? Is your commute to work long? Everything we do in life comes with a risk and we have to be prepared for it or run the risk of ruining our family's financial future.
How Do I Know If The Cheap Insurance Will Cover What I Need Then?
Based on the two lists from above, you will simply need to determine your path forward. Regular use has a cost and needs to be factored into how you plan to pay for your healthcare. There are typically three paths that you can take when planning for costs through health insurance.
- No Health Insurance while an option, is very risky. That is the cheapest plan of them all, but exposes you to both the cost of use and the cost of those unknown expenses crushing you.
- Cadillac Health Insurance, as it is called, will allow you account for both the regular events that you can plan for as well as eliminating most costs from the unknown side. But you're not reading an article on cheap health insurance to contemplate this option.
- Cheap Health Insurance can be a bit of a crap shoot. Not all inexpensive policies are created equal.
- Indemnity only plans will provide money back in your pocket, but leave you exposed to the unexpected if they are not paired with something additional.
- Short Term Medical Plans can provide substantial costs savings if you do not require all of those Minimum Essential Components from the ACA and do not have a pre-existing condition.
- Catastrophic Health Insurance is one of the least expensive health insurance plans offered in Texas and makes an excellent option if you don't need regular care. It helps eliminate the downside of the unknown from ruining you.
What Can I Do If I Need Regular Care?
There has been a resurgence of primary care physicians providing excellent care at inexpensive costs. It is referred to as Direct Primary Care because the doctor is contracting directly with you to provide the regular, routine care that you need at an affordable price point since all of the middle men are eliminated. This pairs well with the Catastrophic Health Insurance policy. You can eliminate a large deductible with these policies while both protecting against the unknown AND taking care of your regular care. The best of both worlds really.
If you would like to discuss your options for cheap health insurance that doesn't leave you exposed to the unknown, speak with an agent at Insurance For Texans. Our agents are trained to find you the best option to make sure that your bacon doesn't end up fried while also helping you find affordable coverage.