Top Tips: 2020 Health Insurance Open Enrollment

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Open enrollment in the individual and family plan marketplace for health plans that start on January 1st, 2020 is just around the corner. Renewal processing will start in a couple of weeks, and open enrollment for new plans will continue shortly afterwards. If you’re looking to enroll in a plan that starts on 1/1/2019, you’ll want to have your application filled-out and submitted by December 15th, 2019.

At PolicyAdvantage.com, we’ve helped hundreds of individuals and familes navigate the health insurance environment since 2012. Through that experience, we’ve come up with a list of top tips for you in 2020:

  • Have a single point of contact. Things can change significantly from year to year, and you’ll want to have a guide who knows and understands the conditions in your area. For example, there might be completely new health plans from new insurance companies being offered, your doctor and hospital networks may be expanded or change, plus more. Work with an agent who can help you efficiently navigate this each year.
  • Keep up with the regulatory environment in the state in which you reside. Regulations and access to care can change significantly from state to state. For example, as of January 1st, 2020, the state of California has significantly expanded access to health insurance subsidies through the state health insurance exchange. Many more families will have access to these subsidies to help them offset the cost of their health insurance premiums. At the same time, the state of California has completely eliminated access to short term health insurance plans. These short term plans can be much more affordable than typical individual or family health insurance plans, but they are also typically much more limited in benefits. California has decided that these short term plans are “junk plans,” and they’re no longer available throughout the entire state. These are examples of significant regulatory differences in California, when compared to other states.
  • Consider small group health insurance plans. If you are not eligible for exchange subsides to help you offset the cost of your individual health coverage, look into a small group health insurance plan if you have a small business (or even a group of partners). Small groups can be setup as VERY small groups, sometimes with just 1-2 participants. So if you have a business with you and a partner, there’s a good chance you might be able to pair-up and find more affordable overall coverage as a small group of two, rather than purchasing two separate individual policies. Small group health insurance plans are underwritten differently than individual plans, which can sometimes help keep their costs lower.
  • Understand all of your coverage level options. In the individual & family plan marketplace, there are only four different levels of coverage: 1) Bronze Plans, 2) Silver Plans, 3) Gold Plans, and 4) Platinum Plans. Within each of these plans are different benefit levels (co-payments, deductibles, access to prescription drugs, etc), and the premiums can vary significantly from one level to the other. Make sure you closely evaluate your coverage level options to see if you’re able to save money.

These are just a few of our top tips to help you navigate this year’s 2020 health insurance open enrollment. Many things can change quite substantially from year to year, and that is why it’s very important to have an independent health insurance agent who can help you navigate it all.

Connect with us at our contact page to get assistance. We can send you info online (email: [email protected], or chat in lower right), over the phone (800-617-0089), or in person (schedule an appointment with us).

Thanks for stopping by, we hope you found our information to be helpful. Check back at our blog to get further information about funding healthcare. Also, please share with your friends, clients, colleagues, and family. Here are a few of our other information outlets:

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More Dental Plans Covering Implants

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Don’t think that dental implant you need is covered by your dental plan? It’s time to think again. Unlike the past, many dental insurance plans are now covering implants for medically necessary dental implant procedures.

Dental implants can be a costly prosthetic procedure when it comes to your dental care. They’re also high-demand, and very popular among patients (in order to avoid other procedure like dentures, bridges, etc). If you’re paying cash for one, they can run upwards of $2,000 per tooth, and that’s on the low end.

We’re seeing more-and-more dental plans that are now covering dental implants. This includes policies in the individual and family marketplace (ie: non-employer coverage that you can purchase on your own, anytime). And, we anticipate the trend with this new benefit to continue.

Not every dental insurance plan covers implants, but more-and-more are. So, if you’re looking for coverage that will take care of your implant, make sure to take a good look at the options that are available.

Chances are, you can find a dental PPO that will cover up to 50% of the negotiated cost of your implant, and there are even some dental policies that have a flat co-payment for one. For example, Blue Shield of California has a dental PPO that covers implants at a fixed co-payment of $613 per tooth (click here to contact us about it, and we’ll send you personalized information).

Keep in mind that there are some limitations in most policies, and you’ll also want to plan ahead. For example, many dental plans have an “annual benefit maximum” of about $1000-$2000 per year. So depending on the cost of your implant, it may only cover approximately one, or maybe two implants per year (which is still better than none). That said, you’d still also have access to your cleanings, x-rays, and other preventive care in your policy. Additionally, there is usually a waiting period for major prosthetics (implants), which in most cases is 12 months. So, you’ll want to have your plan in place for 12 months, before your benefits will kick-in. All things considered, if you do things right, you can find yourself with some pretty good dental coverage for implants these days, instead of paying for all of it out of pocket.

Many individual dental PPO’s start at around $37/month. Contact us today, to have one of our agents put together a personalized information ePacket for you, send it right to your email, and help you get your dental implant covered. We can run quotes for you, and send you a simple online application, from the convenience of your own home. Chat with us right here online on the bottom right, or: [email protected], phone: 1(800) 617-0089.

Thanks for stopping by, we hope you found our information to be helpful. Check back at our blog to get further information about funding healthcare. Also, please share with your friends, clients, colleagues, and family. Here are a few of our other information outlets:

Home Page: https://policyadvantage.com

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You’ve Successfully Navigated the Largest Healthcare Reform in U.S. History With Us — Now What?

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So you’ve been with us since 2014. When it all started. What was “it?” The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare.

The ACA was the largest healthcare reform in U.S. history. From the opening of the exchanges, to navigating “tangled” physician networks, to explaining new available tax credits, to helping large employers navigate the employer mandate… we’ve helped hundreds-and-hundreds of policyholders navigate it all. Successfully.

Considering all of the “issues” you’ve heard about in the media during the roll-out of reform over the past five years, generally speaking, our policyholders have experienced a very smooth experience in a turbulent environment. So sit back, take a break, and relax. We’re happy to have you on-board, and thank you for being here.

Here’s what to know about what’s next: we’ll continue to be with you, as we move forward and navigate the future of healthcare in the United States.

This is our opinion: we believe the U.S. health coverage (ie: the health insurance environment) is going to continue to be a very complex marketplace in the future. There will probably continue to be legislative changes at the national level. There will probably continue to be legislative changes at the state levels. More than likely, new products will continue to evolve (ie: health insurance policies, account-based funding tools, etc).

Private insurance (and other private funding tools like Health Savings Accounts) will most likely continue to “integrate” with current and new government options. It will be very important to know and understand what is available, so you’re putting things together that make sense (both cost and coverage-wise), for yourself or your business.

We look forward to helping you with this, as we’ve helped so many policyholders navigate healthcare reform so far. You can count on PolicyAdvantage.com to get you the most up-to-date, relevant information available in the industry. Contact us anytime if you’d like to visit with a consultant: Email: [email protected], general phone: 1(800) 617-0089, or chat with us online at www.PolicyAdvantage.com with any general questions you have. We’ll put you in contact with an agent.

Thanks for stopping by, we hope you found our information to be helpful. Check back at our blog to get further information about funding healthcare. Also, please share with your friends, clients, colleagues, and family. Here are a few of our other information outlets:

Home Page: https://policyadvantage.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/PolicyAdvantage

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/PolicyAdvantage

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