This post has been shared by the AdvoConnection Blog. It was written with a patient-client audience in mind, but might be useful to you, too.
It is provided so you can find it in a search here at myAPHA.org, but you’ll need to link to the original post to read it in its entirety.
Link to the original full length post.
It’s Open Season – er, um – Open Enrollment Time (How to Choose the Right Health Plan for You)
It strikes me as no coincidence that Fall is both Open Enrollment time for choosing a healthcare insurance plan, and Open Season for hunters. In both cases, it’s about stalking prey. Right? So now that I’ve put that vision in your head, it’s time to get a bit more practical. No matter how we feel about having to go through the paces of choosing the right health insurance plan, no matter that we would far prefer to have a tooth pulled or pay taxes, it’s a rite of fall passage that we must take our time with, or risk our lifetime savings if we don’t. Years ago, I wrote an extensive, but simplified, step-by-step article on how we mere mortals could choose the right healthcare plan for us. But that was in the days before Obamacare / the ACA and as we all know, times have changed mightily since then. As I began to write this post for you, I summoned up those old articles, written at the time for About.com (which no longer exists) – but found them in the “Way Back Machine” on Archive.org. It turns out they are still quite accurate, although they might require some different, more updated resources. So – here’s a list of useful links that will hopefully make this Open Season – er, um – Open Enrollment period a bit easier for you to figure out: If you are under the age of 64: Even if you get your insurance from an employer or some other resource, you still owe it to yourself to be sure that you are maximizing your possibilities for good care while minimizing the cost to you. We’ve all heard about people who buy cheap insurance, only to suffer some sort of accident or episode and end up in bankruptcy. See if these articles help you choose the right plan for you: How to Choose the Right Health Insurer During Open Enrollment (as mentioned above at About.com) Open Enrollment – Can You Get Away With a High Deductible Health Plan? Should I Choose a High Deductible or Catastrophic Health Insurance Plan? Your Step-by-Step Guide to Choosing a Health Insurance Plan How to Strike a Balance Between Quality of Coverage and Your Budget 3 Things to Know Before You Pick a Health Insurance Plan (includes a short video) 300 FAQs about Open Enrollment, the ACA, and health insurance marketplaces If…