How to Find Affordable Dental and Vision Insurance

Dental, General Information, Supplemental

A woman getting her teeth cleaned by a dentist.

Getting affordable vision and dental insurance can seem impossible. You may have been bumped off your plan, excluded from Medicare or Medicaid, or you simply haven’t been able to find affordable dental and vision insurance plans that you can afford.

We understand the frustration, and you’re not alone. Insurance companies are big faceless corporations that don’t make it easy to navigate. When you need health insurance, a dental plan, or a vision plan, the plans offered seem few and far between. It makes you wonder who can actually afford this insurance.

Is Dental and Vision Worth It?

After struggling to find affordable insurance for dental and vision, you might think you’d be better off without it. Do you really need dental and vision plans, or are they more expensive than they’re worth?

The truth is that your vision and your dental needs are extremely important, especially for young children and seniors. Bad dental problems can lead to severe infections that don’t just give you toothaches, but can actually land you in the hospital—and if you think that dental insurance is expensive, then imagine hospital bills.

It’s been proven that the healthier your teeth are, the healthier your body will be. You’ll be able to eat better foods, you’ll be able to fight off infection, and you’ll avoid the social stigma that comes from not wanting to smile and not wanting to open your mouth in front of others.

This fear is real, and it’s debilitating. Fear of bad teeth can mean that you don’t smile enough in job interviews, so you don’t get the job you want, so you don’t get the increased paycheck you need.

As for vision benefits, you would probably be surprised at how expensive glasses and contact lenses can be, and this only gets worse as you age. Bifocals and trifocals cost hundreds of dollars just for the lenses, and that doesn’t account for the visit to the optometrist or the frames themselves. The less frequently you see the eye doctor the more likely you are to experience deteriorating vision conditions, like cataracts and glaucoma.

How Do You Find Affordable Health Insurance?

To get affordable insurance plans that cover eye exams and oral health and all the other important things that we’ve been talking about, Healthedly has created a resource where plans can be found. You can compare available rates from some of the top insurers at less than you would normally pay.

Healthedly works with Humana Dental and Vision, and UnitedHealthcare Dental and Vision. Each of these insurance companies work with hundreds of thousands of eye clinics and dentist offices across the country, offering you the services that will make your life significantly better and healthier.

You can get quotes in as little as ten minutes using our tools, insurance for the entire family, whether you need dental and vision insurance for young children, adults, or even affordable dental and vision insurance for seniors.

Still looking for the right Health Insurance Plan? Browse our plans and get a quote today!

May 25, 2022

What is Travel Insurance?

Life Insurance, Supplemental, Travel Medical

Put simply, travel insurance is an insurance plan that covers unexpected expenses that occur during travel. These can range from medical coverage to travel plans to lost luggage to emergency departures.

Injury and Illness

When you become injured or ill while traveling, you may be very frustrated to know that your American health plan probably won’t cover doctor visits in foreign countries. Travel medical expenses can get very high, depending on where you are in the world, and very often your United States medical coverage policy doesn’t apply—even with health coverage like Medicare or Medicaid. Travel insurance is a type of medical coverage that will pay for medical visits, hospital stays, medications, and more while you are abroad.

There are usually provisions in travel insurance you need to be aware of. Although all travel insurance plans are different and you will want to make sure of exactly what your plan covers, some travel medical insurance plans do not cover pre-existing conditions (which is generally defined by a certain period before you take your trip, often 120 days). You often have to be deemed medically fit to travel and have no presented symptoms at the time you leave.

The travel policies also have strict time limits which coincide with the time that you are gone, basically covering your travel assistance from the time your airplane takes off to when it lands.

Illnesses Often Not Covered by Travel Insurance

Generally speaking, travel insurance does not cover mental health conditions, including anything from Alzheimer’s to depression to psychosis. The insurance will usually have caveats about epidemics (with specific guidelines about COVID-19 and traveling to countries that are high-risk). They will also rarely cover injuries or illnesses caused by the use of alcohol or drugs during the trip. There will always be provisions about traveling while pregnant.

What Else Is Covered by Travel Insurance?

Most of the things covered by travel insurance aren’t actually medical-related. Lost luggage is a great example. If you travel halfway around the world on a three-week trip only to find that your luggage has gone missing, travel insurance can help to pay to replace it.

(The Department of Transportation requires airlines to pay for lost luggage, but very often the payout will only come after the bags are officially declared “lost” and not simply “delayed” and the payout can take up to 21 days.) Travel insurance can give you money immediately to purchase new clothes and necessities.

Flight cancellations can cause major nightmares if you don’t have travel insurance. If a connecting flight doesn’t get you to your cruise in time to board, the cruise line might only refund you 25 percent of your trip. Travel insurance can offset that loss.

Still looking for the right Health Insurance Plan? Browse our plans here.

May 25, 2022

Will Travel Insurance Cover Covid-19 Cancellations?

Life Insurance, Supplemental, Travel Medical

The coronavirus has changed the face of travel insurance. Prior to 2020, almost all travel insurance did not cover epidemics or pandemics as part of their regular health care coverage.

With the caveat that all travel insurances are different and you must always read the fine print on any travel insurance plans before you sign, here are the general coverages that have come up with most travel insurance that covers COVID-19:

Travel insurance that covers COVID-19-related complications includes:

Emergency medical coverage
Emergency medical evacuation coverage
Trip interruption
Free cancellations

Examples of these coverages could include things like getting your trip expenses reimbursed in the event you contract COVID-19 before leaving, getting medical expenses paid for in a foreign country if you contract COVID-19 while abroad, and expenses paid to cover accommodations in a foreign country if you are not allowed to travel home. These are not covered in all travel insurance plans, but they are becoming more common.

Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR) Coverage

One thing to keep an eye out for is a clause that some of the better travel insurances have which is the CFAR clause, or “Cancel For Any Reason.” CFAR has a lot of restrictions applied to it, mostly related to timeframes and eligibility requirements, but if you have this coverage you could have as much as 50-75% of your trip reimbursed by your travel insurance.

What Happens If You Get Sick with COVID-19 While Traveling?

Travel medical insurance that covers COVID-19 will make it easier and cheaper to get medical care in a foreign country.

The first thing that you should do, before getting any travel medical insurance that covers COVID is to check with your current insurance carrier and see what benefits they offer for traveling abroad. Many of them will not offer any services out of the country, or perhaps will have certain countries where they do operate. You will often find your own private insurance company will have travel insurance plans that have special rates for members.

Comprehensive Travel Insurance Plans will offer you global benefits, no matter where you are. Keep in mind, however, that if you contract COVID in a country like Germany or Canada, it’s going to be significantly easier to make use of Comprehensive travel medical insurance coverage than if you get sick with COVID-19 in parts of Southeast Asia, Central America, South America, or Africa.

You will still receive the benefits of the travel insurance, but it may be harder (due to poor communication lines in certain regions of the world) to get immediate coverage to pay for things.

Emergency Medical Evacuation Coverage is designed to get you out of a foreign country if you are seriously ill or injured. These plans offer both ground transportation which will get you from wherever you are to the nearest medical facility, and, if need be, transportation to an airplane which will take you out of the country.

Because COVID-19 is so contagious, especially in the cabin of an airplane, the choice to fly you out of a region for evacuation is only done if the physicians don’t feel they can adequately treat you there.

Trip Interruption Coverage is in most travel insurance plans and provides reimbursement for pre-paid, non-refundable expenses if the travel needs to be cut short. This could include expenses like cruise ship tickets, railway tickets, and hotel accommodations.

Get a quote for travel insurance today.

May 25, 2022

SEP: Important Information About Special Enrollment Period

ACA, Individual and Family, Medicaid, News, Obamacare, Special Enrollment Period, Supplemental

Things To Know About Deductibles

Individual and Family, Medicare, Short Term, Supplemental

8 Things You Should Know About Deductibles

What is a deductible?

A deductible is the amount you pay for health care services each year before your health plan starts to pay. For example, if you have a $1,500 deductible, you pay the first $1,500 of the services you need.

Depending on your plan, you may also need to meet this in-network deductible before you pay for covered prescription drugs. This means you will pay the prescription’s full cost upfront until the deductible is met. Then you will pay your copay or coinsurance amount until you meet your yearly out-of-pocket maximum. But some plans do not have a deductible. And some types of medicines may be available at a lower cost (as little as $0), even if the deductible has not been met first.

What happens after I meet the deductible?

Once you’ve met your deductible, you usually pay only a copay and/or coinsurance for covered services. Coinsurance is when your plan pays a large percentage of the cost of care and you pay the rest. For example, if your coinsurance is 80/20, you’ll only pay 20 percent of the costs when you need care. Your health plan pays the rest.

Does the deductible reset each year?

Yes. Since your deductible resets each plan year, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on the figures. If you’ve met your deductible for the year or are close to meeting it, you may want to squeeze in some other tests or procedures before your plan year ends to lower your out-of-pocket costs.

Is a health insurance deductible different from other types of deductibles?

Unlike auto, renters or homeowner insurance where you don’t get services until you pay your deductible, many health plans cover the cost of some benefits before you meet the deductible. For example, your plan may cover the cost of annual physicals and many preventive health screenings before the deductible is met.

My plan information says I have a family deductible, too. What does that mean?

If your plan covers your family, there will probably be a deductible for each person and a separate family deductible. As soon as the family deductible is met, your plan starts paying at the coinsurance amount for everyone’s care. That’s the case even if some family members haven’t met their individual deductible.

With a family deductible, once you’ve met that one family deductible amount, no other individual deductibles are needed. After the family deductible is met, you’ll only pay your copay and/or coinsurance amount for services for each family member.

Some plans, like a health spending account (HSA) may only have a family deductible, so your member ID card will only list one deductible. Check your benefit details if you aren’t sure.

Do all health care services apply to my deductible until it’s met?

Not always. Some plans fully cover preventive services, which means you don’t pay anything at the time you get them. Because you don’t have an out-of-pocket charge, those services won’t count toward meeting your deductible.

If you receive care that isn’t covered by your health plan, it often won’t count toward your deductible. This might include such things as cosmetic procedures or seeing a provider who isn’t in your health plan’s network.

What are the pros and cons of a high or low deductible?

In most cases, the higher a plan’s deductible, the lower the monthly premium. If you’re willing to pay more when you need care, you can choose a higher deductible to reduce the amount you pay each month.

The lower a plan’s deductible, the higher the premium. You’ll pay more each month, but your plan will start sharing the costs sooner because you’ll reach your deductible faster.

Some people who don’t often need medical care would rather have a smaller premium and pay more up front for care as they go. But it can mean taking a chance that you might end up paying a big medical bill if you have an unexpected illness or injury.

Other people like knowing that when they need their insurance, they won’t have to come up with a large sum of money before their plan starts helping with the cost. They’d rather have a higher premium, but a lower deductible. It makes costs more predictable.

If I pay so much out of pocket before my insurance kicks in, why should I have coverage?

Health coverage can lower your costs even when you must pay out of pocket to meet your deductible. Insurance companies negotiate their rates with providers, and you’ll pay that discounted rate. Without that discount, people often pay twice as much — or more — for care.

For more information on health insurance or healthy tips, visit us through Healthedly Insurance Services to learn more.

Also, utilize these resources to help navigate what you’re looking for: