Have You Used Up Your Health Insurance Deductible? Why Not Take Advantage Of It?

With two weeks left in the year, you may be in your end-of-the-year holiday frenzy, but don’t forget to take a final look at your health insurance and particularly your health insurance deductible before the year is up.  If you’ve been using your health insurance throughout the year and hit your health insurance deductible, now is the perfect time to get any last minute healthcare expenses in which would usually otherwise be swallowed by your deductible. 

Your health insurance deductible is the amount of money that you need to spend on your healthcare before your health insurance kicks in.  So for example, if you have health insurance with a $500 deductible, you are responsible for $500 worth of healthcare expenses every year before your health insurance will start paying out.  However, your healthcare expenses go down a lot once you hit your health insurance deductible, so if you have hit your deductible, think very carefully on whether there is anything else you may need which is usually subject to the deductible.

Don’t forget, though, that even if you have hit your health insurance deductible, you will still be subject to copays and coinsurance.  So for example, even if you have used up your $1,000 deductible, if you schedule a doctor’s visit before the end of the year, you will still have to pay your copay or coinsurance on the visit.  Still, it’s probably a good deal cheaper than waiting until January 1st, when you would have to start paying off your deductible all over again.

December 31st is just around the corner?  Have you already used up your health insurance deductible?  Tell us about it!

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1. High-Deductible Health Insurance Follow-up: High-Deductible Health Insurance and Health Savings Accounts
2. High-Deductible (Catastrophic) Health Insurance Plans: What Are They? Are They Worth It?
3. Healthcare Reform: Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and High-Deductible (Catastrophic) Health Insurance
4. Pregnancy and Health Insurance: Is There Anything You Can Do For Health Insurance If You’re Pregnant?
5. Limited-Benefit Health Insurance: Is It Better than No Health Insurance?