How to Choose the Best Health Plan Insurance for You

How to Choose the Best Health Plan Insurance For You Audra Lowe: But, right now let's talk about your money. You know it’s about that time of year again when a lot of companies are conducting their open enrolment period and you can make your health care plan selections. Better’s finance and career expert Maribel Aber is here. She’s going to enlighten us on which plan might be the best for you and really when to do all of these things, right? Good to have you back Maribel. Maribel Aber: Great to have here back. Audra Lowe: Yeah. There’s a short window of time that you typically have to make those changes and if you miss it, done. Maribel Aber: There are a lot of changes going on. I mean usually the window is happening right now in the fall. Audra Lowe: Right. Maribel Aber: And, that’s preparing for the new period coming up for the new year. So, at times people overlook that. Audra Lowe: And in terms of the plans themselves extending coverage, what are we looking at in terms of timing? Maribel Aber: What’s happening is in 2011, we've got a lot of changes happening because of this affordable Health Care Act that’s happening. And, the first change that people should be aware of is that they’re extending coverage for adult children. So, what does that mean for you? Right now, I think plans in place allow you to keep your child up to age 19. And sometimes, if you’re a full time student, they may allow you to keep your child a little bit longer. But, now you can extend it over to 26 years old. Audra Lowe: Okay. Maribel Aber: Yeah. Audra Lowe: In most cases, I guess you have to wait until you start a new plan which is January 1st to make those -- Maribel Aber: That’s right. It’s usually when it becomes effective. You're making those changes now though for what’s effective on January 1st. Audra Lowe: Okay. Maribel Aber: And, one of the great things here is your child can be married. They don’t have to be living with you. They don’t have to be financially dependent on you. So it really opens up this to a lot more people. Now, there is a temporary exception, okay, for children who -- if it’s a grandfather plans and this exception is until 2014. Audra Lowe: Okay. Maribel Aber: For children who are eligible for a group plan right, so they may have a job and they might be eligible for another plan. Then, the grandfather plans would not extend this benefit, okay. Audra Lowe: Okay. Maribel Aber: So, if they have something -- Audra Lowe: One or the other, right? Maribel Aber: It’s one or the other, correct. Audra Lowe: And, is it automatic in terms of the enrolment? How does -- Maribel Aber: No, you need to make that selection. That’s a very good point. You want to make sure that you make that choice. It’s not -- doesn’t roll as an automatic. Audra Lowe: Okay. We know that Health Preventive Care is a big deal because obviously, due to preventive care you don’t have to worry about as much about care later on down the end. What about those expenses though? Maribel Aber: Well, this is a great point too because you see the pandemic is happening right. Last year, we saw how many flu cases. Audra Lowe: Yeah. Maribel Aber: So, it’s really big you want to make sure that you get the vaccinations. Under the Affordable Health Care Act, what's happening now is some group plans and individual health policies are giving you the benefit of Preventive Care services without a co-payment, without a deductible. So it should be “free”. And, we’re talking about things like vaccinations, checking you for high blood pressure -- Audra Lowe: The basics. Maribel Aber: That’s right. Audra Lowe: And if people have questions a lot of times, they don’t know where to go but you said the state department is a good place to check right. Maribel Aber: State department -- the first place you should check is the Plan Administrator, okay. Call into them and then, if all else fails, do call the State Insurance Department. Audra Lowe: Right. Now, a big deal is you hear of a lot of people getting denied coverage because of preexisting conditions and they are the -- obviously they need the coverage, so how do we handle this? They need changes in that area or as a sort of about the children? Maribel Aber: Okay. So, here is the big -- under this new reform, what’s happening now is children, I think it’s up unto age 19 that they cannot be denied for coverage simply because of preexisting condition. So, what happened a lot would be especially now, you see a lot of people changing jobs, moving to different places so they signup for a new healthcare plan. And then what happens is if their child had some other condition prior to joining that plan, they’d be denied so this is not the case now. Audra Lowe: Thank you very much Maribel. Maribel Aber: Thank you. Audra Lowe: If you guys have questions for Maribel, you can e-mail her at askmaribel@bettertv.com