There are a lot of details to consider when you are choosing a health care plan, whether it’s one offered through your employer or one you buy on your own. No matter what age you are, your health should be a primary concern, although young people often act as if they will live forever and sometimes postpone making health care decisions.
Here is a list of common mistakes that people make all the time when choosing a health care plan. They are in no particular order, and all are important to consider, carefully and completely. If you are not conversant with all the terminology or are finding it difficult to make the decisions, you should ask for help from a neutral third-party such as family member or friend. Don’t ask a health insurance company unless you want to hear a sales pitch!
Common mistakes
- You don’t check out your doctor, or any others – Although some healthcare plans require you to use a physician in their own network, other plans are more inviting. If you already have a physician, and are buying your own insurance, check with the doctor to see what plans he is a member of. If you do have to choose a new doctor, you should look into the health plan doctors’ credentials by contacting the AMA.
- You forget “location, location, location” – The location of your doctor or clinic, and the travel time required, are other factors you should consider when considering health care plans. Find out where the doctor is located and also look into the regular and emergency hours of the facility.
- You don’t consider specialists – If you already need specialist care, or think you may need to in the future, you need to know the health care plan’s procedures on using them. Some plans require you to contact a primary care physician, while others allow you to make specialist appointments directly.
- You don’t consider your own specialist – You should definitely find out if your current specialist is in the health care plan you are considering. If not, perhaps your specialist can refer you to one who is.
- You forget to check the policy on “pre-existing conditions” – Even though this should be a “no-brainer,” people forget to ask about the policies on pre-existing conditions. Coverage for pre-existing conditions varies widely among health plans. Some exclude them entirely, and will not even consider coverage, while others cover them fully. Many health care plans fall somewhere in the middle, offering coverage after a certain amount of time, or for a certain amount of time or expense. Rules promulgated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act guarantees you coverage for your pre-existing conditions if you join a new group plan offered by your employer after being insured the previous year. Do your research to make sure you know what your policy covers.
Less common oversights
- You don’t ask about physicals and health screenings – Again, it seems an obvious thing to ask, but if you appreciate getting regular physicals and health screenings you should ensure that they are covered. Most “managed care” plans do cover these types of procedures, usually on an annual basis, but there are some plans that do not cover them. If you have children, make sure to ask if “well baby” check-ups, physicals and immunizations are covered.
- You forget about additional services – Everything, from prescription drug coverage to mental health care, is an important consideration. You need to consider which of the various additional services that you may need are, in fact, covered when you are comparing health care plans. Other examples of these additional services that may be important to you are drug and alcohol counseling and treatment, home health care, nursing home or extended care, hospices, experimental treatments, alternative and complementary medicine, chiropractic care and physical therapy.
Bottom line considerations
- You don’t price things out correctly – Once you know what you want in your health care plan you need to compare costs, and you need to do it right, which means covering all the bases. You will need to know exactly what deductibles must be paid first before the health care plan coverage starts paying, and don’t forget to ask if the deductible needs to be met before certain services can be utilized. Find out about “out of network” charges if you anticipate having to go beyond your plan facilities or physicians. Finally, there are co-payment, cap amounts and total-care limits you need to know about. Some plans have lifetime limits, some have lifetime and annual limits, and others have mixed formulas for making this determination. Get all the facts.
- You don’t check the exclusions – If you don’t read the exclusions list, you will not know what is not covered. You need to see if any condition you currently have, or that you expect to contract in the future, is included. This is an important bottom-line consideration since, if you don’t get this settled and dealt with up front, you will likely spend a great deal of money down the line to treat excluded conditions.
It is a difficult thing to look at your health in a dispassionate, dollar-oriented way, but that’s life. As we age, more of our energy goes into thinking and planning against death and disability, but the subject need not be morbid or depressing. Do your best to get a health care plan that covers what your particular needs are, and remind yourself that you are worth the trouble – and the expense.
Here this nice Video about health care
All of the other Nations with universal health care systems are not on the verge of Bankruptcy. We are… In fact we owe them money because our own Federal reserve can’t even print enough money for this government to spend. We have problems to fix before we create more for future generations Health care, Social Security, Medicaid, David Walker, 60 minutes, Vote Ron Paul!
We obviously need more deregulation in our economy since its working out so well…
What is the population of Austria? UHC might be a little more complicated in a country as large as the US.
Who the fuck do you think you are calling me a lair you punk! Come to Nova Scotia and I will personally wait at the airport to punch you in the face when you get off the plane. I lost two people in my family to government health care denying them care to save on costs…
PUBLIC HEALTH PLAN:
ALL Americans are now paying in HIDDEN TAXES the cost for medical care for the “UNINSURED” who must use the Emergency Room.
With President Obama’s Health Plan ALL AMERICANS will be covered. These HIDDEN TAXES will disappear.
WHY is a … “PUBLIC GOVERNMENT PLAN” … good enough for all REPUBLICAN SENATORS in Congress … but NOT good enough for ALL AMERICANS who choose this option over a Private Plan??
AGAIN we see the blatant REPUBLICAN LIES & HYPROCRISY !!
Okay if you won't have any clinical skills or any managerial/administration skills, just what will you do? You'll have a lot of knowledge but nothing to do with it.
They have a 100 percent covered plan for them and their families for life (assuming they serve at least 6 years), along with an excellent pension plan for life.
They will care about the crisis if it is something the voters want! After all, if they are not acting in the interest of the voters, they will lose their seat and their health care plan.
Unfortunately, there is so much disagreement between the "left" and the "right" that it is difficult for congress to do anything. In addition, many people (even those who truly need health care reforms) vote based on moral values, leaving health care to be ignored.
Nice work. keep it up. mean time come for social media marketing for esteembpo**com
Some of the most intelligent people believe in God, it doesn’t make them right.
Here's something to think about: according to the census bureau, of the 47 million or so that are uninsured almost 10 million are illegal immigrants, 8 million make over 75,000 a year, another 8 million make over 50,000 a year, and 14 million qualify for medic-aid or medicare but do not apply. Hmmm. makes you think that maybe our system isn't so bad after all. So Obama needs to quit with his fear mongering and quit lying to us. There are a lot of unemployed, but 47 million is very misleading. Give us a real number!
Also the idea is that by giving health care to everyone, businesses don't have to pay for it, and then they can give more jobs, increase profit, and help the economy. Which sounds great, if you're stupid. Since Universal health care is insanely expensive, guess who pays for it? raised taxes on business and on the rich, (and apparently companies that aren't green). So it's basically a beat-around the the bush way to distribute wealth. And ask yourself this? Is it a good idea to take from from the rich? Take money from a poor man, and he becomes poorer, take money from a rich man, and he goes to work and fires his workers. So which is worse? MAYBE GOVERNMENT JUST SHOULDN'T TAKE PEOPLES MONEY!
Bush tried to reform social security in his second term, but with the war and his approval ratings, congress didn’t give him anything to work with. He was a lame duck at that point and didn’t really push it either, so it failed. Hate him or not, his plan was much better and more fair than todays social security.
SS is running out because our crooked ass government keeps borrowing against it and not paying it back. Yes, sorry to tell you, our government fucks us dailey. Love it or leave it lolololo. (I hate that saying)
~~This is a mute point because Nationalized insurance is not in the works. All the government is proposing is an alternative for people who can't get employer based insurance to be able to buy directly from the same insurance that senators and congressmen get. Otherwise, business as usual for private insurance companies.~~
My brother’s grandfather lives in Canada and he died waiting on these nonexistent waiting lists of yours.
If you have a really good health food store with knowledgeable people I would ask who they might know or suggest. Also the Internet site www. alternative medicine for Maine would hopefully give some info. Good Luck
I know Canada’s medical system is not good. But I’m telling you that last thing you want is the American health system. Imagine paying tens of thousands of dollars for you to be misdiagnosed or given the wrong drugs. In other words, coming out of the hospital in worse shape than when you went in. In fact a Washington state high school student just diagnosed herself correctly when the doctors with all their training could not.
We obviously need more government managed programs since the current ones are working out so well…
Depending on where you live, it may be very similar. Health care management and administration deals much with the same tasks such as budgeting, marketing, meeting with stake holders, dealing with several of hospitals in your given area, organizing and managing the staff that are through various departments. They also are in charge of orchestrating different rules and regulations in process of discipline, hiring and firing etc. through various hospital regions.
I will also provide you a couple of links that may explain things a little clearer to you regarding this.
http://www.aaham.org/
http://www.mshealthcareers.com/careers/healthcareadmin.htm
http://www.healthmanagementcareers.org/careers.cfm
http://www.ache.org/
From what I could see, I believe that you would need a little bit higher than a diploma. It would be either a bachelors or a masters.
the guy below is a brainwashing drone of stimulus money. He should focus his study on eugenics and govt control. I wonder where that place is where doctors and medical equipment and supplies are free.
I agree with a lot of what Nemisis said, but I think I can simplify it even further.
Insurance is gambling. How do we keep Casino's from getting more and more corrupt, like the insurance industry is?
Caps on profits. If an insurance company had to pay out 90 cents of every dollar that it takes in, it would have to lower premiums. Pass transparent billing, enforce contract law and anti-trust laws. That is very important too, but if insurance companies were obligated to return a percentage of what they take in, not a percentage of net, but a percentage of each and every dollar they touch, health care costs would come down to a realistic level.
One law, enforce the others. Done!
Obama’s policies will direct as many people as possible toward pursuits that are unproductive relative to current pursuits in the market place, building windmills for example. The unstated goal is to curb consumerism, which they believe is noble. Meanwhile, we inject more and more money to pursue the goods and services which will be less plentiful. => Spend the money while its still worth something. Dont worry about your health, youll be broke first.
You don’t seem to understand the American system so I’ll elaborate on something you could have learned from watching the video. There WERE a dozen or so payers per recipient in the US. The number of payers to recipient has since declined dramatically, and in the near future will be down to 3 payers per recipient. “You pay only for you” is not how it works here at all… and I’m not sure what you mean by “social country” but I don’t consider acting selfish by spending money you don’t have “great”
It’s because the people who are authorizing the money creation don’t care a rat’s arse about the wee people.
If the most intelligent people happen to have liberal views, it doesn’t mean there’s a conspiracy, it just means you’re a fuck tard.
“Pretend Liberal Media” HAHAHAHA
I guess MSNBC, CNN, and BBCA aren’t good enough. And let’s not forget that nearly 85-90% of TV reporters describe themselves as being liberal or having liberal ideas.
But I guess I’ll just forget about all of that seeing as how they are all just “pretend”.
Just had to pick on you PsychoPunk, no hard feelings =P
I do pay thousands of $ to get worse care then you get. I just have it taken in Taxes and have no second option.
why do we keep giving bailout money to irresponsible companies who misuse the money? Shouldn’t we be saving as much money as we can or spend it on BETTER USES?
I am from Austria, Europe. We have perfect Health Care, no waiting lines, get our income paid if we are ill and so on. If i lose my job, i will get paid 80 percent of my last income for up to 2 years. How much that costs? 7.81 percent taxes of my income. Greets!
Excuse me what world do you live in? I live in Eastern Canada, come spread that bull down here while they close our ERs and our waiting lines for even simple treatments are dangerously long.
Sorry but with out the medical advances from the USA we would be in big trouble.
Click here :
http://yfrog.com/5g21403615j
stop lying you “genious” it’s exactly propaganda like that which is the major cause for willful ignorance in the US
In any plan made by Clinton the only financial incentives are to put money in her personal bank account.
Fuck that shit . universal heath care . yeah fuck that shit . you cant afford healthcare then oh well. soial security . how the hell is it running out its suppose to be a retirement plan for the people and thats it. and people usually dont get it till their 65 or older. SO HOW THE FUCK is it running out.
Amazing. Nursing is like the best profession out there. There are so many sub-specialties in all professional areas.
There are about 100 different nursing specialties. See below for the list. I know that doesn't completely answer you question, but the list can give you some ideas. Research, for instance, or Business Administration, There the CSI angle, but the TV show seems to make it more glamorous than it probably really is. Then there are legal nurse consultants.
You can find a list of the highest paying nursing specialties here on the right hand column: http://www.jobs-in-registered-nursing.com/nursing-specialities/index.php
Another approach is to see what all the nursing schools offer.
You can find a list of all nursing schools here: http://www.my-nursing-career.com/nursing-degrees/index.html.
Since you already have your degree, the online option is a good one. You'd be amazed at what is available for nurses online. Check out the nursing degree search here: http://www.my-nursing-career.com/index.php
List of nursing specialties:
* Ambulatory care nursing
* Advanced practice nursing
* Behavioral health nursing
* Burn nursing
* Camp nursing
* Cardiac nursing
* Cardiac catheter laboratory nursing
* Case management
* Clinical nurse specialist
* Clinical research nurse
* Community health nursing
* Correctional nursing
* Critical care nursing
* Developmental disabilities nursing
* District nursing
* Emergency nursing
* Environmental Health nursing
* Flight nursing
* Forensic nursing
* Gastroenterology nursing
* Genetics nursing
* Geriatric nursing
* Health visiting
* Hematology oncology nursing
* HIV/AIDS nursing
* Home health nursing
* Hospice nursing
* Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Nursing
* Intavenous therapy nursing
* Infectious disease nursing
* Legal nursing
* Legal Nurse Investigator
* Maternal-child nursing
* Matron
* Medical-surgical nursing
* Military and uniformed services nursing
* Neonatal nursing
* Neuro-surgical nursing
* Nurse anesthetist
* Nurse-midwife
* Nurse practitioner
* Nursing educator
* Nursing informatics
* Nursing management
* Obstetrics gynecology nursing
* Occupational health nursing
* Oncology nursing
* Operating room nursing
* Orthopaedic nursing
* Ostomy nursing
* Pain management and palliative care nursing
* Pediatric nursing
* Perianesthesia nursing
* Perioperative nursing
* Plastic and reconstructive surgical nursing
* Private duty nursing
* Psychiatric or mental health nursing
* Public health
* Pulmonary nursing
* Quality improvement
* Radiology nursing
* Rehabilitation nursing
* Renal dialysis nursing
* Renal nursing
* Research
* School nursing
* Sub-acute nursing
* Substance abuse nursing
* Surgical Nursing
* Telenursing
* Telemetry nursing
* Telephone triage nursing
* Transplantation nursing
* Travel nursing
* Urology nursing
* Utilization management
* Wound care
Here is the bottom line about Universal Health Care and our current situation. Obama has nearly bankrupted the national treasury and now HAS to raise taxes on EVERYONE if he wants to have Universal Health Care. And even after this he will still be short a about 10 billion or so. This will ruin the economy and cause long waiting lists in hospitals. Look at California. They are bankrupt and have to cut welfare hand outs because people are exploiting the system. This is a foreshadow of the future.
STRIKING DIFFERENCE BETWEEN—PRIVATE & PUBLIC—HEALTH CARE:
PRIVATE:
Places the INSURANCE COMPANY between YOU & YOUR DOCTOR. The Insurance Company DECIDES what treatment they will authorize & pay for … or what claim they will deny & cancel the policy.
PUBLIC:
Your DOCTOR is the one who DECIDES what treatment YOU require. NO profit involved. NO more red tape. NO begging with Insurance Company for approval.
All SENATORS in Congress have a GOVERNMENT run PUBLIC PLAN !!
It doesn't fail, almost every first world country has it setup as a system.
Unless of course you view treatment of the poorer people a failure.
The benefit to not treating a lot of people, is faster care for the wealthy.
If you don't want to have universal health care, the government can step in and price fix medical procedures like they do in japan. It works okay for them. They can afford adequate medical treatment because the government forces it to be affordable, and the same prices in rural as in urban areas.
The real problem with our system, coming from someone who has an entire family in medicine (Doctors, surgeons, nurses)…is the insurance companies. They buffer every side. The doctors, the hospital, the patients, everyone has to get insurance, and they are the ones forcing prices higher and higher.
OMG…NO!!!!!!!!!
You need to talk with a local agent that works with all of the major companies in your area. Insurance companies and the plans they offer will vary from state to state and the premium with any one plan can vary by zip code.
At 22 if you are in good health you should be able to find a catastrophic plan for less than $100 in most states and a comprehensive plan shouldn't be much more than $100.
The agent will be able to explain what you need to know – there is not enough space here to tell you everything. You'll need to know about the deductible, the co-insurance, the co-pays and what is covered with the co-pay, what procedures are and are not subject to the deductible, what is excluded from the plans, which doctors accept the plans, the different types of plans and how they operate, the prescription coverage if any, and much more. There is no extra charge using an agent.