Health insurance

1. Health Insurance www.lifethenfinance.com

2. Importance of Health Insurance: • Incase you get sick or need any kind of medical attention. • Can you afford to pay for a doctor’s visit without insurance? • Depending on the type of doctor and practice it can cost from $95–$265 per visit. • Insurance co-pays: $5–$50 per visit. • Are you certain you won’t hurt yourself or catch some type of cold? • Do you have allergies, wear contacts or need any other type of regular prescriptions? • Can you afford those medications without insurance? • On average prescription generic medications start around $50. • Insurance co pays usually around $5–$20. www.lifethenfinance.com

3. Health Insurance: • Paying health insurance premiums can seem like a waste of money especially for those that are healthy. • However having health insurance will protect you from sky-high medical bills if injured or if you experience a sudden illness. • It is tempting to think, “I’m young and I never get sick,” and not to take health insurance if you have to pay for it. • Don’t do this. You may be young, but you can break your leg snowboarding just as easily as anyone else. • Any catastrophic accident or illness could lead to bankruptcy if one is does not have insurance • It happens to a lot of people each year. Don’t be one of the 47 million uninsured Americans who play Russian roulette with their health and finances. www.lifethenfinance.com

4. More about Health Insurance: • Most employers provide health insurance but you have to pay a certain amount of the insurance premiums through their paycheck. • Health insurance is a form of risk management that individuals use to protect themselves against an unpredictable health loss. • An insurance policy is a contract between an individual and an insurance company that transfers that loss from the individual to the insurance company for a fee. • All policies are not the same and should be reviewed carefully. www.lifethenfinance.com

5. Health Insurance: What you need to know • Doctor and medical facility availability: • An individual needs to make sure the doctors, hospitals and medical groups they want to use are contracted with their insurance company. • Premium (monthly cost): • This monthly fee, which is paid by the individual, should be affordable and the individual should be able to maintain that premium over a period of time within the individual’s budget. • Deductible: • The amount that the policyholder must pay out-of-pocket before the health insurance plan pays its share. • Co-payment: • The amount that the insured must pay before the health plans pays. This is a lot like a deductible but is applied to individual services, which are usually waived from the deductible (except for prescription drugs). www.lifethenfinance.com

6. Health Insurance: What you need to know…. Cont…. • Exclusions: • Not all services are covered in some plans. A lot of new plans do not have coverage for maternity or brand name prescription drugs. These exclusions can lower premiums. • Out-of-pocket maximums: • This is the amount where the policy holder’s obligation ends under coinsurance and the insurance company pays 100% of the cost. • Health insurance policies can be very confusing. • It is best to find an insurance agent who specializes in this kind of coverage and meet with them to review the details. • Insurance plans are no more expensive using an agent than going direct. www.lifethenfinance.com

7. Medical Bills • Fact: • Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy and these bills can be avoided by having medical insurance. www.lifethenfinance.com