For California health insurance consumers on the lookout for innovative strategies in their affordable California health insurance plans to save money throughout the year, look no further than this great strategy!
Let’s say you’re looking for a California health insurance plan strategy that can save you money on your family’s health coverage with no sacrifice to plan performance. Is it always the best strategy to go the ‘family health plan’ route? Perhaps not and here’s where the always free, careful and considerate client consultations you can secure with your Vitality California health insurance professional can be a real difference-maker! We’ll review your family’s health coverage needs and apply innovation and caring concern to your efforts to secure health coverage that comes with the best benefits that are uniquely right for you at the most affordable price for your California health insurance plan.
Let’s take one example where the use of a HSA-compatible health plan in conjunction with a PPO health plan can provide an innovative way to save you money. Let’s use the plans from Blue Shield of California as an example since Blue Shield continues to provide child-only health plans here in the state. Rather than purchase a father and son plan – say a Vital Shield Plus or Balance Plan, jointly, at a higher premium rate – we instead decide to select a Balance Plan for the young son: Balance Plans are child-friendly; featuring a low copayment for doctor office visits and preventive care (Which includes immunizations.) and allows for unlimited number of medical doctor visits. They also will give your child important protection when it comes to prescription drugs because it provides coverage for both brand name and generic prescription drugs. The annual deductible options range from $1,000 per member on the low end to $2,500 per member on the high end. And for dad? Well dad is an active, healthy young man who also happens to be quite the saver. He’ll take the Shield Savings 3500 HSA Plan which comes with a free annual preventive care exam and the option to include a Bridge Plan rider that will pay $1,500 towards dad’s annual deductible if he is hospitalized for over 72 hours in the first year he owns the plan (The rider is $5 a month or $60 total for the year so it’s a great deal and dad says yes to that deal!).
While the Shield Savings 3500 HSA Plan does come with a $3,500 medical deductible it also features a lot of benefits that come with $0 for the plan owner after that deductible is met! And: With this plan, dad also gets covered access to both brand and generic prescription drugs after the deductible have been met! HSA-compatible health plans typically come with a lower monthly premium so the savings start right from the first day as we’ve just built a health coverage strategy with two separate standalone plans instead of one joint family plan.
…and this strategy features a special bonus we know you’ll like: Dad’s HSA-compatible health plan features that HSA component: Whatever money dad saves in his Health Savings Account (2010 Individual Limit is $3,050) is tax deductible for that year (Despite the fact that dad doesn’t itemize!) and here’s where it gets even better: Dad can use his own HSA funds to pay for his son’s qualified medical expenses which would include his copayments for office visits or a prescription drug purchase! (For more specific information please refer to IRS Publication 502.)
Here’s another interesting use of dad’s HSA funds: While Dad would have liked to purchase a California dental insurance plan for himself and his son, it just wasn’t in the cards this year. But: With money dad has saved in his HSA, he can use that money to pay for qualified dental (and vision!) expenses he and his son will have during the course of the year so while an affordable California dental insurance plan may be in next year’s budget, there is an important financial instrument dad can use to cover dental services in the interim!
While we used the example of a dad and his son there’s another scenario where a HSA-compatible health plan can provide innovative health coverage options: One spouse can use their HSA funds to pay for the qualified medical expenses of the other. So here again if going with two separate health plans creates a more consumer-friendly health coverage strategy depending on your family’s unique needs and you feel as we do that the HSA-compatible health plan offers its owner the twin advantages of cost savings and important tax advantages, a strategy featuring a HSA-compatible health plan for you (Or your spouse.) and a PPO plan for the other is the way to go, we’re here to help you create strategies that fit your unique requirements for health coverage!
Reach out to us via the Vitality website or call us toll free at 800-607-1950 and let’s get started creating long term winning health coverage strategies for you, your family – even your California small business!
For the California health insurance consumer who is looking for a fast, easy, and convenient resource for their next California health insurance plan, they need look no further than Vitality online! Thanks to Vitality’s commitment to the power of the Web to bring both convenience and buying power to the consumer, here’s what you can expect when visiting the Vitality website:
- Clear, concise information that will help California consumers formulate an outstanding California health insurance strategy that satisfies from both a benefits and affordability standpoint. Our website and accompanying Vitality Blog feature an array of great articles that are geared towards helping the California insurance consumer become a skilled and confident shopper for not only a California health insurance plan but for a wide range of other insurance strategies as well, including California life insurance, California long term care insurance, California disability insurance – even California travel insurance! Remember too that our health insurance offerings include the full range of health coverage benefits to suit every health related insurance application: Individual and family health insurance; Medigap; California dental insurance, as well as group health insurance California small business owners can secure for their valued employee teams.
- Read all about great buying strategies and have an understanding of the questions every California health insurance shopper should know and understand when setting out to buy a California health plan. Ready to start shopping? Start with our website’s quote engine where you can get an amazing array of free California health plan quotes denoting the range of plan options you’ll have available to you and your family: These  will include popular PPO, HSA and HMO plans that will provide health coverage options to meet your own unique requirements and preferences for a health plan strategy. Now that’s buying power! Thanks to our Vitality Blog you’ll also have a great understanding of how to read your health plan quote and understand the unique benefits each type of plan concept offers the consumer!
- See the plan you want? Ready to apply? You can apply online quickly, easily, and conveniently or you can also download a California health insurance plan application from our site if that is your preference! Remember: While every health plan shopper who visits our site has the option of making this a completely automated self serve experience; it’s important to keep in mind that every consumer is also invited to reach out to us directly for our always free, always careful and considerate personalized one-on-one client consultations and client services! Please allow us to bring our experience and expertise to the process of helping you find the peace of mind health plan that is uniquely right for you, your family – even your California small business!
- A quick reminder: Do you have a family physician that you like and want to continue using? You can even use the Vitality website to verify your doctor is in the network of providers for the health plan you have in mind! Staying in-network will save you money – lots of it!
We share the innovation spotlight with health insurance companies like Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, and Aetna:
- Innovation is being applied to the health plans you have under review: A great example is the fourth quarter deductible carryover offered on some plans like Vital Shield Plus by Blue Shield. If you don’t meet your deductible, any charges applicable to your deductible in the last three months of the calendar year will be credited towards helping you meet the plan’s annual deductible in the following calendar year. Innovation in health plans that is focused on providing member value is available, and we’ll help you locate that value and use it to its greatest advantage!
- After securing your new California health plan, you’re on your way to even more innovation and convenience via the many programs, online tools, and services offered by the leading California health insurance companies whose plans we represent to the marketplace. This exciting range of value added member benefits is focused on getting or keeping you healthy!
- You’ll also have the ease and convenience of quickly and easily adding other insurance strategies to your health plan – important coverage like an affordable California dental insurance plan and to protect all your family’s tomorrows in your absence: A life insurance strategy in the form of an affordable California term life insurance plan that can be added to your health plan bill if you buy your health plan from Anthem Blue Cross or Blue Shield of California. Have you been approved for a health plan from either of those two companies? Well then no need to pass through underwriting for that term life plan: You’re approved!
The Vitality California health insurance team is devoted to being an innovator and your trusted online and offline source for an array of important insurance strategies: Contact us via our website or call us toll free at 800-607-1950 and find out more about how we can assist you in the research and selection of the California health insurance strategy that is uniquely right for you! We understand that today Californians from around the state lead active, hectic lifestyles: The team of innovative insurance professionals at Vitality can meet your requirements for ease and convenience in shopping for your next health plan so that you can focus on family, work, and the pursuit of a life lived well here in California!
For California health insurance consumers Health Reform will mean at least one big change in how you use your new California health insurance plan moving forward. One important component of the Affordable Care Act was the recognition by lawmakers that preventive care plays a vital role in helping folks maintain good health and also an acknowledgement that preventive care today helps avoid the need for more expensive medical care in the future.
To that end; all new health plans sold on or after September 23rd, 2010, will feature preventive services as specified in the Affordable Care Act and which will be covered by your plan without charging you a copay, co-insurance or deductible – provided that these services are delivered by a network provider.
Everyone is different – we know folks who will line up to be first for an annual flu shot but who otherwise won’t participate in any sort of healthy lifestyle strategy involving regular exercise and proper nutrition. Still others drink protein shakes, exercise regularly, and only eat organic foods but will never get that annual flu shot. We know folks from both of these groups who have preventive services benefits in their health plans and never use them. Please try not to be one of those people!
Moving forward, preventive services will be an intricate part of your new California health insurance plan strategy. Using your preventive services will be as easy as making an appointment with your in-network provider and scheduling an appointment that will gain you access to one of the best benefits to come out of Health Reform legislation. The data is in: Preventive services do make an important difference in both your current and future quality of life. Preventive care is also key to creating important strategies early to deal with chronic health conditions.
If you’ve read enough of our website and accompanying Vitality Blog, you know we deal an awful lot with the dynamic of affordability as it relates to the free California health insurance plan quotes you can secure from our website’s quote engine. Each and every California consumer – be it a shopper for an individual California health insurance plan, a Medigap plan, or even the small group health insurance California business leaders seek out for their valued employee teams – wants their health coverage strategy to be the best and most affordable possible. We’re dedicated to helping you get there with both our always free personalized one-on-one client consultations and the important clear, concise information we place here at Vitality online for your review. That information includes our commentary on the need to think like an underwriter when applying for your new California health insurance plan. Examples of what makes an underwriter happy and the insurance company more prone to giving you the best premium rate includes height to weight ratios that are within underwriting guidelines and not smoking.
With the inclusion of a preventive services mandate via Health Reform legislation, it’s official: The prevailing trend today is towards moving the health insurance consumer into a more proactive role in the healthy lifestyle process. And here’s a “Did-you-know?’ worth noting: Leading insurance companies like Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, and Aetna were already proactive in getting members to sign on to the concept of healthy lifestyle commitments: Each of these companies were already leaders in providing value added online tools and programs to help members lead more health conscious lives.
If you have the opportunity to utilize these great new and free preventive services as part of your new health plan, please do so. Not using these valuable services costs you in two ways: Financially: You’re leaving money on the table right here and now and you’re risking exposure to larger medical bills in the future for issues that might have been stopped in their tracks years previous or avoided entirely with preventive care services. Physically and emotionally: Preventive services are proven winners in helping you and your family avoid the potential for more serious health issues down the road. The use of preventive services as part of a balanced healthy living strategy should also leave you feeling better emotionally and less susceptible to the harmful effects of stress on the body and mind.
Have more questions about how preventive services are becoming an integral part of a California consumer’s health coverage strategy moving forward? We’re to help with our always free client services! Reach out to us via our Vitality website or call us toll-free at 800-607-1950, and we’ll arrange a careful, considerate client consultation at a time and place that is most convenient to your schedule!
