If you’re getting ready to renew your health insurance benefits for next year, you’re probably considering how your plan will help you if you become sick or injured. Of course, that’s an important thing to do because that’s when you’ll be using your health care benefits the most.
However, you don’t have to wait until you’re sick or injured to use your health care plan, you can take advantage of it when you’re healthy through benefits such as preventive services, discounted medical equipment, and even discounts and rebates on health club memberships.
If you’re not taking advantage of all your health insurance plan has to offer, have a look below to learn about three ways you can get the most out of your benefits.
1. Preventive care benefits
Preventive care benefits can help reduce your overall medical expenses and help you to stay healthy.
Most plans offer this valuable benefit. You don’t even have to find the best short term health insurance plans to get it. No matter how minimal your short-term health insurance plan or even a long-term health insurance plan is usually some type of preventive care benefits is offered.
Preventive care often includes immunizations, exams, tests, and screenings that help physicians detect health issues early on. Some examples of types of preventive care include the following:
- Wellness Visits: During your annual wellness visit, your doctor checks your heart rate, blood pressure, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and what your lifestyle behaviors are. A blood test is usually done as well to check your glucose and cholesterol levels. It’s a general maintenance check to make sure everything is running right in your body.
- Breast Cancer Screening: Around age 40, women should start talking with their physician about getting their first mammogram. Mammograms are X-rays of the breasts to check for cancer. Most often, women can survive breast cancer if it’s detected and treated early on, so make sure you don’t over this look important screening.
- Colorectal Cancer Screening: Most often colonoscopies are the type of screening people receive to check for colon cancer, however in recent years health care providers have begun to use alternative types of screenings. Talk to your doctor to learn more about alternatives to aid colorectal cancer detection. For both men and women, the recommended age to receive this preventive screening is 50 years.
2. Medical equipment
The type of plan you have dictates what type of medical equipment is covered at no or minimal cost to you. The following are examples of medical equipment that are typically covered:
- Canes
- Crutches
- Walkers
- Breast pumps
- Bedside commodes
- Diabetic supplies
- Oxygen supplies
3. Rebates or discounts for staying healthy
Taking extra proactive steps to stay healthy such as losing weight, quitting smoking, and becoming more physically active are ways we can stave off disease and live longer. For this reason, many health insurance plans offer rebates and discounts for the following services:
- Weight loss programs: Depending on your plan, your health insurance company may offer rebates for signing up for a weight loss program such as Jenny Craig or WW to encourage you to reach or maintain a healthy weight.
- Health club memberships: Some health insurance plans will reimburse a portion of your annual health club or gym membership or offer a lower premium to encourage you to maintain a healthy amount of physical activity.
- Quitting smoking: Smoking is extremely unhealthy. To help encourage members who smoke to give up the unhealthy habit, some health insurance companies offer plans that cover counseling and medication to help smokers quit.
Summary
Taking the time to read and understand your plan’s benefits helps you to get the most out of your health insurance investment no matter whether you’re healthy or dealing with health issues.
Taking advantage of preventive care, getting enough physical activity, and even taking additional measures such as taking supplements made by a quality manufacturer such as Makers Nutrition to ensure you’re receiving the recommended daily vitamin and mineral intake can help prevent illness and disease when you’re healthy.
