Open enrollment is the one time of the year when a person or family can enroll or change their health insurance plans for the upcoming year. It sounds like one more annoying administrative task to add to your calendar, but it could mean mistakes that cost you inadequate coverage, unexpected costs, and a lot of nasty stress during the next year. Know the common mistakes and how to avoid them, and you’ll know that you really do have the correct plan. Some of the most common mistakes made during the open enrollment process, along with actionable tips about how you can avoid them.
Mistake 1: Missing Deadlines
This is the simplest and most expensive mistake to make during open enrollment. Your health insurance provider will have specific enrollment periods for when you can join or alter your coverage. Miss those deadlines, and you may be locked into that plan for the rest of the current year, or worse, left without coverage for the year.
Open enrollment periods for the ACA Marketplace plans are typically open from November 1 through January 15, and for Medicare, October 15 through December 7. Enrollment periods offered by employers vary but are usually conducted in the fall.
Tips to Avoid This Mistake:
Mark Your Calendar: As soon as the open enrollment announcement comes out, write the important dates on your calendar. Set a range of alerts before that final deadline so you don’t forget and let it get beyond you. In essence, set up a reminder process. Stay Organized: Keep all the documents and details related to this in one location, be that in a folder or a digital file. So, when review and decision times come, everything will quite easily come to hand.
2. Failing to review your current coverage
The most common myth is that most people think that their current health insurance is ideal and that there is simply no need to review it properly. However, life and health needs may change from year to year, and so may even the details of an insurance plan.
How to avoid it:
Asses Your Needs: Begin by honestly assessing your present and future health-care needs. How have you, or members of your family, been feeling worse, better, or just about the same? Are there any medical exams in the offing or treatments that you need to prepare for in the coming year?
Compare Your Plan: Compare and analyze your plan with the current options in the market. Check if your existing plan is able to fulfil your needs or if there is another which will cover your need or save up more.
3. Ignoring the Plan Details
Most health insurance packages have a fine print, setting forth comprehensive details regarding the health coverage and costs. But what most people do is skip the detailed review and focus only on things such as the premium paid monthly. This could often involve unpleasant surprises down the road that treatments or medications aren’t covered or that you end up paying higher out-of-pocket costs than you anticipated.
Tips to Avoid This Mistake:
Check the Details: While scanning through the plan do not look over the details but check out everything. Be on the watch for things such as premiums, deductibles, co-payments, and out-of-pocket maximums.
Understand the coverage limits: Be sure to understand what the plan actually covers in addition to what it does not cover. A few of the plans may restrict the number of time patients can visit specific consultants or may even exclude certain drugs. Such information can save you from sudden and unexpected expenses that hit.
Error 4: Overlooking Network Limitations
A lot of health insurance plans have a network of physicians and hospitals, or other health providers. You might be facing out-of-network charges or worse, benefit denial when using services from an outside network. Yet a major mistake most individuals make is that they fail to research whether their favored healthcare provider is on the network before they settle on a plan.
Tips to Avoid This Mistake:
Check the Service Provider Network: Before enrollment, scrutiny must be performed on the list of doctors and hospitals within the network where, in fact, one would wish to seek treatment. With most insurance plans, there is an online directory where you can search for service providers under such a policy.
Check for Convenience: If some of the favorite doctors or nearest hospitals are not in the network, it may be upon one to think twice about the plan. After all, it’s a delicate balance between the convenience of seeing your favorite providers and not overspending on costs.
Mistake 5: Underestimating Total Costs
When selecting a health insurance plan, it is easy to focus on the monthly premium, but it is just one piece of the puzzle. The premium, deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket maximums all are a part of the total cost. Not being able to guess these costs can make you have less money and place stress on your finances if you need more medical care than you had thought.
Determine Your Total Costs Take into account all the potential costs linked to a plan: the monthly premium, your deductible, copayments for doctor visits or medications, and maximum out-of-pocket limit.
If you might expect to make lots of use of health services, then it’s possible a higher premium plan with correspondingly lower deductible and copayments could be a better deal over time. On the other hand, if you are a fairly healthy person and are not likely to make many trips to see the doctor, a lower premium plan along with higher out-of-pocket costs may be a better value option.
How to Avoid These Mistakes:
These are all common mistakes that could be avoided with a little bit of preparation and an eye for detail upon open enrollment. This contains the following steps that can be done in order to come up with an informed decision. Early Review: You can start reviewing your options as soon as the open enrollment period commences. This way you will be able to compare plans, ask questions, and gather any necessary documentation well in advance.
Have all of your plan details, key dates, and contact information for your current healthcare providers in one place so you are better able to assess your alternatives.
Ask for help: If you are unsure about any aspect of the open enrollment process, do not hesitate to ask for help. To get your questions answered and make an informed choice, contact your insurance provider or a health advisor.
Open enrollment does not have to be overwhelming; with awareness, take proactive steps against many common mistakes. These include missing deadlines, not reviewing your coverage, ignoring the details of plans, through-to-the-end costs, and underestimating the total costs in the network. And remember: the right health insurance plan can provide some peace of mind and financial protection throughout the year, so it is worth taking the time to choose carefully.
If it feels like this process is just way too much, or if you need help that feels more personal to your needs, call in a specialist. At Live Health all our experts are on board to guide you in mastering open enrollment in the selection of the best plan good for you. Don’t put it off. Contact us today.
