1. Deducting is the beginning

There is misunderstanding by people, who think that when they pay the annual deductable of their health plan, then the plan pays the rest. And these consumers need to know that this is just the beginning, especially when the medical costs are rising. For example in 2006 they become 26% more then they were in 2001. And the share of health care cost which has to be paid by the employee is getting bigger. And there are many plans that do not cover even some common cares.

2. Do not go for individual insurances

It is not an easy job to get an individual health insurance. Especially if the individual has an existing condition then insurers often refuse him to sell a policy. The Affordable Care Act was signed into the law about a year ago, and it would prohibit that practice, but the effect will not come until 2014.

If an insurer agrees to provide coverage, that will cost a lot for sure. The out-of-pocket costs of people who have chosen to insure individually is almost double to the coverage that the employer pays, and usually the workers finds out that when he gets sick. For example, the costs can cover heart attack treatment, but not cancer treatment.

3. You need to fight

In some insurance companies it is a practice to turn down claims. What you have to do is fight back if the company has rejected your claim. Especially if your doctor says that it is necessary to do the treatment. You need to be persistent and this will pay you off. There are people who were fighting against their insurance companies for months, but finally won the battle, so the company had to cover the expenses for their customers’` treatment.

4. The insurance company will pay your out-of- network expenses

This will happen if you know in advance that you will have to go to an out-of-network hospital, because there is not such medical care available in your region.

5. The company will not cover therapy

In 2008, there was an attempt to get coverage for mental health equal to the coverage for physical health and surgeries, especially for companies with more then 50 workers. But most plans just dropped that, especially when it was not required by the law, and the reason was that people assume certain things included in mental treatment, which are actually not.

But in 2010, employer-provided plans for workers more then 50 have changed the mental benefits, by raising or eliminating the limits of the coverage of mental care.

6. Which drug to buy?

It is a great industry, spending millions so that people would ask the drugs according their brand name. Insurers are certainly not standing on its way, because they transfer the costs of prescriptions to the patients. Neither the doctors, nor the insurers will tell you that there are expensive brand-name drugs and generic drugs, which will do the same job, but are ten times less expansive.

7. Reputation could be different

In the different areas of the county there are different insurance plans that are popular. Some famous insurance companies are not always tolerated in certain areas, and some top-ranked plans for the area are not known at all in other areas.

There are certain factors which influence choosing an insurance plan. It depends on how often do companies use certain care for medical conditions, how well the doctors communicate with the plan, how well does the plan verifies and guards customers privacy, etc.

8. This is our language

Insurers offer their services in a lot of countries, where different languages are being spoken. But the most important language is the one that insurers speak. Perhaps it may not seem fair, but customers have to find a way to understand all these special terms and conditions, because when everything is clear to them they can get the right decision and they can see the difference in which cases they can get coverage.

9. We want to keep you in the network

You have a doctor that you want to attend, but he is not in the network. But you do not want to end with an enormous bill, so you want to know how much will cost a procedure which is out-of-network. The insurer will give you the benefits of an in-network procedure. That is why you need to insist in finding out how much you will pay at the end.

10. Eventually you will get your rights

The patients and consumers of the insurer plan need to learn what are its details. Insurance companies should notify their customers about the changes even though they will go into effect after 2014. So do not wait, because time passes, but be active and search for your right for information.