You enroll in your health plan and choose an option that is affordable and seemingly everything you are looking for, but is it really? I come from personal experience when I discuss this as I was extremely naive to how health coverage works when I first started working in this industry.
I received my health cards last year and noticed a doctor printed on my card but failed to look at the fine print. I thought nothing more of what was printed on my card. A few months later I was sick and needed to see a doctor, so I called a providers office that a friend of mine had recommended and asked if they took my health insurance and was told YES. When my bill came that was not the case, they accepted my carrier, but not my specific plan.
I now know to make sure I see an IN NETWORK doctor so I am not paying a full out of pocket expense and the health plan that I enrolled in can be utilized. I advocate for using a broker to help you find your health plan as they can check to make sure the Dr.’s and facilities that you want to have access to are covered on the plan prior to enrolling. Don’t get stuck like I did between a rock and a hard place. Do the research to save yourself the frustration and cost. Have you run into an issue of seeing an out of network doctor and been stuck with the entire bill as I was?