Those numbers on your policy may look big, but are you fully covered?
“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” (Proverbs 22:3)
Major health problems can wipe out a family’s finances. There are more medical problems than ever before and more highly sophisticated technological solutions to them. And someone has to pay for these multi-million dollar solutions when they are needed.
Politicians are busy trying to change the current system, so who knows what we’ll see in the near future. We’ll simply make a couple of points here and continue to work with you individually as things change.
Many people have health insurance through their employers. If this is your case, then you must take what they give, and hopefully you have good coverage. If not, you always have the option to purchase your own insurance so that you are not beholden to theirs. Some decide to do this even if they feel they have good coverage at work because they know they might not work there forever, and they want to lock in coverage while they know they have good health.
One important thing to look for, that most people never think about is the maximum protection under the plan (either in your group plan, or in one that you buy yourself). We see a range from $1,000,000 all the way up to “unlimited protection.” It’s hard to stay on top of what the latest procedures cost, but we know that some of them cost $3,000,000. If you need a $3M procedure, and only have $1M of coverage, what are you going to do?
If this is what your company offers you, you might want to consider buying additional coverage, or replacing your coverage so that you are never put in this position.
Most people who pay for their own coverage choose to go with a high deductible plan. We’ve seen scenarios where this wasn’t the best option, but in most cases it cuts down on the monthly cost while still providing protection for any big event that might occur. The downside to this is that when most things happen, they will need to be paid out of pocket, but doctors and hospitals do often give a discount to take care of this quickly.
One option that makes sense for some people is to set up a Health Savings Account (HSA). This allows you to deduct from your taxes the money put into this account and then use it to pay for any medical expenses.
This post is _Part 8_ in the series The Rock. To continue with this series, click on Pt 9. To use this as a growth tool, you might start by reading Pt 1, Pt 2, Pt 3, Pt 4, Pt 5, Pt 6 and Pt 7.
