It can be challenging to find the right healthcare plan that is affordable and provides the coverage that you need. Being a type 1 diabetic could make finding the proper healthcare coverage even that much more challenging to do.
To choose health insurance that works for you, there are some things that you need to consider before selecting the healthcare plan that is for you. Before choosing a healthcare plan, you need to do the correct amount of research beforehand.
Here we will provide you the information that you need to make the best decision that you can during this time.
Choose Health Insurance: High Deductible Plan or Traditional Plan
Every health plan that is available today requires that the member pay a percentage of the deductible. The deductible is the amount that the patient pays out of pocket for diagnostic testing, medication prescriptions, therapy sessions, doctor visits, and so on.
The deductible must be met before the insurance services will begin paying their part of the medical costs. In the debate of choosing a traditional health plan over a higher deductible health plan is that the traditional plans offer lower deductible payments.
The higher deductibles offer low premium monthly rates as a trade-off for the deductible price. The critical factor to focus on is that if you require ongoing doctor visits and prescriptions, a higher deductible could make it challenging to purchase the medications needed for type 1 diabetes.
Write Everything Down
Before choosing a healthcare plan, you need to write every single thing down. This will help you to seek a plan that is fit for you. You need to write down the following:
- The medications that you are currently taking including the equipment that you need to administer the medication
- All of the doctors and specialist that are apart of your medical team that help you to manage and take care of your diabetes ( cardiologist, podiatrist, primary care physician, and nephrologist)
- Your preferred hospital and pharmacy
Read over the Plan Details
Before selecting a health insurance plan, ensure that you look over the summary of benefits and coverage that each plan provides. The summary will include information about plan costs and benefits of the plan.
During open enrollment, one should look over each summary and compare them to the other plans that you may be looking at during the selection period. In addition to the summary details, you need to take into account the formulary.
The formulary will have a list of diabetic drugs and supplies that are covered by the insurance plan. If the medication and supplies that you need are not included, you can either ask for an exemption to the list or will need to select a different healthcare plan.
Lastly, take into account all of the costs involved in the health plan, including the premium, the deductible, and your prescription costs.
Select a Plan
Although this may be a lot of information to take in hopefully, it has made it easier for you to choose health insurance for you type 1 diabetes.
For more information about various medical insurance head over to our blog to read more.