You decide which protection plan to purchase, and what to know, how much is it going to cost? Well, it’s not so simple. Sometimes, you pay money toward your wellness care; sometimes, the protection company pays cash, but when? To figure it all out, there are three main ideas you need to know; Premiums, Deductibles, and Out-of-pocket maximum. Though this may sound complicated, stay with me throughout this article because it’s not hard to understand as you think.
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Premiums
Think of your wellness protection as a monthly membership, every month you pay the same amount to be a member. That amount is your premium. With your premium, let’s say $200 a month, you get some preventive care for free. This includes care like vaccines, and screening for diabetes, cholesterol and breast cancer, and is covered by your premium. But, what if you need more than just preventive care?
If you need a wellness service beyond preventive care illnesses like a broken leg, emergency room visits, you usually need to pay extra. How much? Well, that changes over time. There are three main stages in this phase. First, you pay then, your protection funds, and you spend some, then finally your protection pays everything. So how does this work? In the first stage, mostly at the beginning of the year, you’ll pay for most of your wellness care until you reach your deductible. Remember that word, “deductible.”
Deductible
A deductible is the amount of money you have to pay for your care before the protection company shares the cost. So let’s say your deductible is $500? That means, almost every time you get wellness services, you will pay for all those services until you’ve spent a total of $500. It’s more like you’re filling up a bucket. Once you add enough to fill up that bucket, so that you pay your whole deductible, then Everything Changes.
When you enter into the second stage. Now, every time you get wellness services, your protection company will share the cost of those services. How much? Well, that depends on your plan. Usually, you pay part of the price which, a fee called co-pay or co-protection, and your protection pays the rest.
But the second stage doesn’t go on forever. If you reach a certain amount, you won’t have to pay for any services. Remember that bucket? Every time you fill it with co-pays and co-protection, your protection company is keeping track and if you fill that bucket up to the top, then everything Changes again!
You now enter into stage 3. From this point on, your protection company pays everything for the rest of the year! That’s right, every dollar of your wellness services, funded by the protection company. So what’s on top of that bucket? It’s called your out-of-pocket maximum.
Out-of-pocket Maximum
This is the most money you will pay for your wellness care over an entire year. So, let’s say your out-of-pocket maximums $2000 after you pay your $500 deductible, and if you pay an additional 1500 services, you’ve hit your out-of-pocket maximum. From then on, you don’t pay up a penny more for wellness care services.
However, it’s essential to know that every year this starts over. So next year, you’ll go back to stage 1 and need to meet your deductible yet again. So let’s review you pay a monthly premium to get into the club and get many preventive services free. You pay for other services until you meet your deductible. Then, you and your protection company share the cost of Wellness Service. You make co-pays or co-protection, and your protection pays the rest until you hit your out-of-pocket maximum. After that, your protection company pays for everything. So, how much does your protection cost?
You will at least pay for your monthly premiums, and at most; you will pay for your monthly premiums plus, your out-of-pocket maximum. It all depends on the plan you choose and the care that you and your family need. You can as well get free help from an expert who has the experience in selecting which plan will be best for you, and your family in the long run. Choose wisely, so you won’t get to regret your actions later. And also, whenever you feel that you’re not adequately acquainted with an protection company’s terms and conditions, or perhaps you have some questions you’d love to ask concerning the plan, please do so before you sign any agreement because once it’s being signed and documented the process of reversing your actions may not be that smooth as it was when you signed up. In other words, read and understand the policies before agreeing to it.