5 Ways in Which the Healthcare Law Has Your Back Covered

In these difficult economic times, most American families are coping with massive debts and trying to limit their spending. Most of them are already reorganizing their priorities, in an attempt to cut down unnecessary expenses. If you are getting ready to do the same thing, you should know that health insurance is not one of the things that you can afford to live without. Unlike auto insurance, for instance, it does not represent a legal requirement, but it can be cataloged as a valuable safety net enabling you to handle the unforeseen in a successful manner.

Can you actually believe that a few days of hospitalization or basic interventions, like a couple of stitches for instance, can force you to take hundreds or even thousands of dollars out of your own pockets if you are not insured? Lack of insurance can and will cost you. Even if you are young, energetic and disease-free, all this can change in the blink of an eye. You can get involved in a serious accident or develop a life-threatening chronic disease.

Would you be able to cope with all these worst-case scenarios implying sky-high expenses, from a financial standpoint? The main idea is that health insurance should be treated like a top priority. Whether you get your coverage from your employer or you are determined to buy an individual health insurance policy, you should know that the healthcare law works in your best interest and prevents insurance companies from violating your basic rights. Here are 5 ways in which the law has your back covered.

1)      By Compelling Insurance Companies to Offer Coverage to Individuals with Pre-Existing Medical Conditions

Did you really think that insurers have thousands of rights and privileges, but no obligations whatsoever? If so, now would be a good time to change your opinion. The legal framework compels insurance companies to offer coverage to people who have one or more pre-existing conditions. The fact that you already suffer from a more or less serious medical problem shouldn’t stop your insurer from offering you a fair deal. While it’s perfectly true that insurers are looking for ideal clients who are perfectly healthy and thus less likely to file a claim, they are also obliged to shake hands with customers who don’t have a spotless medical history. So now you no longer have to worry about the fact that an older disease impacting your general state of health (including diabetes, back pain, asthma or cancer) could stop you from getting the kind of coverage that you need and deserve.

2)      By Allowing You to Understand the Pros and Cons of Your Health Coverage

Still think that jargon elements used by insurance agents could keep you in the dark and stop you from assessing the price-quality relationship of your health insurance policy? Now you should eliminate these concerns, as the current legal framework compels insurance companies to put a SBC (Summary of Benefits and Coverage) and a glossary of terms at the disposal of all their clients, making it easier for them to weigh the benefits and the drawbacks of their coverage. The SBC should be written in plain language to avoid confusions and it should be short and concise. Moreover, insurance agents should be able to provide accurate answers to all the additional questions that may be troubling their prospects.

If you are still worried that your insurance agent may not have your best interest at heart and may not give you the chance to profit from a fair deal, you can do some research on your own. Count on Insurance Quote Depot to spot and compare health insurance rates by zip code. This is the easiest method to simplify the health insurance buying process and avoid unnecessary risks.

3)      By Holding Insurers Accountable for Premium Increases

Insurance companies are forced to meet their so-called “80/20” target on an annual basis. If they do not manage to attain this goal, they are obliged to offer their clients a rebate check. The 80/20 target means that they should spend minimum 80% of the money that they make in premiums on their clients’ health care and quality, essential improvements, instead of investing a greater amount of money in marketing strategies, administrative measures and so on. The best news is that any insurance company is required to report and justify a premium increase of over 10% in a timely fashion before actually raising the premiums. This legal measure protects your rights.

4)      By Preventing Insurers to Cancel Your Insurance Policy Just Because You Get Ill

Worried that your insurer could cancel your policy just because you got sick? The healthcare law eliminates this risk. Basically, insurers cannot arbitrarily cancel a client’s policies without a solid reason that could back their decision. Fraud allegations and lies listed in your application can invalidate your claims, but an old or a new illness will never stand in your way when it comes to benefitting from the type of coverage that you are paying for.

5)      By Protecting Your Unique Choice of Medical Specialists

The legal framework gives you a few more reasons to smile. It actually gives you the chance to pick your medical specialists and broaden your access to emergency medical services. If you receive emergency care from hospitals that are not in your network, insurance plans cannot implement a higher copayment or coinsurance. You don’t need to get your insurer’s approval before receiving emergency care from a hospital or another health care facility that is not included in your network.

All in all, the law seems to be on your side. However, this doesn’t mean that lack of research can’t or won’t impact your health insurance buying process. To keep things simple and get your hands on the best policy tailored to your needs and financial possibilities, just go online and compare health insurance rates by zip code, to avoid misconceptions and miscalculations. This way, you will pay the right about of money for a policy corresponding to your own selection criteria.