One of the questions I get from time to time during open enrollment is does health insurance cover gym membership? If you have a gym membership or are thinking about getting one, then an added bonus would be if the health insurance company would pay for it. So, let’s talk about whether or not a […]
Is the Cost of Health Insurance Tax Deductible?
If you are doing your taxes right now, you might be wondering is the cost of health insurance tax deductible? What about the other out of pocket expenses you pay for medical care like your deductibles, copayments and coinsurance? Taxes are a pretty complicated issue but I’m going to do the best I can to […]
7 Steps to Beat Surprise Out of Network Medical Bills
A few months back, I had to take my wife to the emergency room. I have two hospitals within 5 minutes of me. Both are considered in network hospitals in our medical plan. I chose the closest of the two. After being transferred to another in network hospital and a six day hospital stay, she […]
Is Hospital Indemnity Insurance Worth It?
Hospital indemnity plans have been available privately and at work through companies like AFLAC, Allstate and MetLife for a long time. However, with the higher deductibles brought on by the Affordable Care Act, these plans are more likely to be offered at work during your core benefits enrollment alongside critical illness and accident plans. Because […]
Shake Your Fear of Using Flexible Spending Accounts
I am a big fan of flexible spending accounts and have used the medical one for as long as I can remember. In this article, I’m going to walk you through the reasons I use an FSA. I’ll also help you overcome the fear of the use it or lose it provision that keeps most […]
Why Tobacco Users Shouldn’t Pay a Tobacco Surcharge
When you set up group health insurance plans, the option exists to separate out tobacco users from non tobacco users. This allows insurance companies to charge tobacco users higher premiums. But should tobacco users really pay more? I don’t personally think so and that’s what I want to talk about today. It’s Legal to Charge […]
How to Use the Summary of Benefits & Coverages
Many people choose a health insurance plan based on how much the premium for that plan is. While that strategy works fine if you never go to the doctor, it’s not always the best approach if you actually will use your health insurance. That’s why the second thing you need to look at the Summary […]
9 Surprising Things I Learned About Health Insurance This Year
Over the past year, I’ve been enrolled in four different health insurance plans. Technically, I’ve been on four different health plans over a 7 month period of time. That’s a crazy number of plans to have been on during the year. I thought what I’d do is share with you some things I learned about […]
Health Insurance: The Definitive Guide [2019]
Health insurance plans pay for covered medical expenses that you might incur to treat medical conditions. Plan participants pay premiums and then file claims to receive benefits. Benefits are paid directly to the providers unless the insured paid for the expense and in that case, the insurance company would reimburse the insured according to the […]
What are Voluntary Benefits?
You might think of voluntary benefits as insurance benefit plans that employees can purchase “voluntarily” through their employer if they decide they want to enroll in them. While technically this is true, it also implies that some insurance benefits are required to be purchased by the employee. But this is not the case. Employees are not required to buy […]
