How to Pick the Best Health Insurance Coverage for You & Your Family
Not knowing your cost needs upfront can be challenging when choosing family health insurance but at Opolis, we’re here to help.
While shopping for an individual health insurance plan can be complicated, there is one major upside: you’re only shopping for yourself. But shopping for your whole family? If you’re just starting one, you know how expensive a pregnancy and giving birth can be if you don’t have coverage, or don’t have the right coverage.
Health costs in general can be unpredictable sometimes, but that’s especially the case once you have children. Kids are often prone to being sick more than their adult counterparts, and let’s not forget about the occasional random broken arm or other injury. Not knowing your cost needs upfront can be challenging when choosing family health insurance!
Out-of-Pocket Costs
How much your health insurance costs you isn’t just about the monthly bill; it’s also about how much you have to spend out-of-pocket before your health insurance starts paying its share. This is called the deductible. High-deductible plans are “cheaper,” if you’re just talking about the monthly premium, but can actually be very expensive when you start to consider that you may have to pay thousands of dollars out-of-pocket before your health insurance covers so much as a dime.
If you’re a relatively healthy adult, there’s a good chance that you won’t utilize your health services much during the year. But children? They’ll need to see a doctor much more regularly, and they often need health services unexpectedly.
If you only have one child, you might be able to swing some unexpected costs here and there. But as your family grows, so does the likelihood that you’ll be spending quite a bit on medical expenses in a given year. That’s why when you’re choosing a health insurance plan for your family, it’s important to consider the possibility of unexpected medical expenses and make sure you have a plan. This may mean a plan with a higher monthly premium, but a lower deductible.
Understanding Family Deductibles
Family health insurance plans differ from individual plans in two major ways. The first is that family plans cost more, simply because you have to pay for everyone in your family. The second difference impacts the way your deductible works.
Family health insurance plans actually have two kinds of deductibles: individual deductibles and family deductibles. As you can probably tell based on the names, each individual is covered by the plan as their own deductible, but there’s also a deductible for the whole family.
Let’s say each member of your family has an individual deductible of $500. This means that once you spend $500 out-of-pocket on health care services for an individual family member, health insurance will start paying a share of the expenses. But other family members are not affected.
Let’s also say that your plan has a family deductible of $1000. This means that once you spend a total of $1000 out-of-pocket on health care services for any combination of your family members, your health insurance starts paying their share.
No matter what kind of health insurance plan you purchase, you’ll likely have to pay out-of-pocket for healthcare services at some point. When that moment comes, having a well-funded HSA or FSA can be a lifesaver.
The Difference Between an HSA & an FSA
No matter what kind of health insurance plan you purchase, you’ll likely have to pay out-of-pocket for health care services at some point. When that moment comes, having a well-funded HSA or FSA can be a lifesaver. HSAs and FSAs are two very useful tools for families looking to save additional money on out-of-pocket expenses.
Not sure what the difference is?
- A Health Savings Account (HSA) is an individually-owned, tax-advantaged account that you can use to pay for current or future IRS qualified medical expenses. With an HSA, you’ll have the potential to build more savings for healthcare expenses or additional retirement savings through self-directed investment options.
- A Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) allows employees to use pretax dollars for healthcare and/or child and dependent care expenses not covered by insurance plans. Employees contribute a portion of each paycheck to an FSA and save on taxes. Money in an FSA can be used to pay for out-of pocket medical, dental and vision expenses or dependent care expenses. The FSA Plan Year is January 1st through December 31st. The funds are subject to the “use it or lose it” rule. The Employment Commons offers two Health Flexible Spending Accounts: Healthcare FSA and Limited Purpose FSA, and also a third type called Dependent Care FSA.
Joining the OpolisEmployment Commons
With the Opolis Employment Commons, you can access HSA or FSA options, and choose from 3 comprehensive health plans to protect you and your family. But maybe the best hidden benefit of all? Pediatric dental and vision coverage is included in ALL 3 of Opolis’ medical plans.
If you’re currently getting your coverage for these services from multiple providers, you know just how helpful this perk is! This is one reason that if your spouse has health benefits through their work, you should always compare them with our plan offerings. After all, it could save you some serious money.
