Health insurance shouldn’t just be bought once and then forgot about. The policy is one of the most important support structures you’ll have and you want to make sure it’s always the right thing for you. Reviewing your health insurance is actually so crucial that you should do it every single year.
You might be missing out on savings and discounts
One of the major reasons to review your health insurance policy every year is to do with the simple cost-saving effect of it. You might be paying for a policy that you could actually get a lot cheaper. You don’t want to be wasting money, right?
Health insurance companies always offer savings and discounts to attract new clients. But sometimes these same savings and offers might also be available to existing customers. However, the insurance providers don’t automatically hand these out – if you don’t ask for it and renegotiate your policy, you won’t get to enjoy the savings.
In addition, you don’t always get penalised for switching your health insurance provider. This means that by reviewing and comparing different options annually, you could actually find a policy that is cheaper than your current one. You might even find a deal that providers more coverage than your current one for the same price, or even cheaper! Therefore, financially, you are going to make a lot of savings by simply taking a bit of time to review your policy.
Your needs might have changed
Healthcare needs don’t tend to stay constant throughout our lives. The fact of the matter is that you change and your health changes. The change can happen for a variety of reasons. You might be going through a period of depression or you might have suddenly started living a healthier lifestyle. You might even be planning to start a family!
These all mean that your health insurance needs are unlikely to remain static. You might require something more from your insurance or perhaps you need less of something. This can mean that your coverage is simply not adequate for your needs or you are paying for things you’re never even going to need. It’s important to assess the situation annually to guarantee your health insurance is still going to help you in the right way.
You’ve forgotten about your rights and responsibilities
It’s also rather easy to forget about your plan and what is actually there to do. If you are healthy, you might not have thought about your insurance after you bought it. This might mean you don’t use it properly – perhaps you’re not utilising the free health check-ups you could be taking or other benefits you might not be fully using. This means you are paying up for nothing and perhaps not even looking after your health as well as you should.
On the other hand, it’s also important to understand your responsibilities to guarantee you don’t end up being penalised later down the line. For example, are you paying the correct amounts and providing your health insurance company with the information they need? There are many things like this that you simply want to remind yourself about and by reviewing your health insurance policy, you get to do this.
Furthermore, this type of annual review is a good way to ensure your policy is correct and error-free. Look for even the most mundane of mistakes, such as typos, because correcting these can ensure you don’t end up with problems later down the line.
How to review your health insurance policy?
As the above shows, it’s crucial to do this kind of work annually and to review your health insurance policy. It will save you money and guarantees you’re getting exactly what you want and need. So how should you go about the review?
It’s a good idea to pick a date on your calendar and leave a few hours of the day to go over your policy. Don’t keep pushing it away or postponing it – the quicker you do it the better. A good review plan would see you:
- First go over the current policy. Check it for errors and coverage – is it what you need or not?
- Compare health insurance companies online and see what kind of policies are available for you?
- Do cost calculations and contact companies for a quote if you want to.
- If you think there’s a better deal out there, contact your policy provider and talk to them about what you’ve found. They might offer you a better deal.
- See what option is the best and switch your health insurance or update your current plan if you have to.
- Set a date for next year!
The benefits of doing a review each year are obvious. If you get into the habit of doing this kind of work, it won’t feel like a big deal and the possible savings will definitely bring a smile to your face. Perhaps you could even use them to treat yourself to something nice afterwards!
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.