Securing Catastrophic Texas Life Insurance Coverage
Stateside Insurance Services frequently receives inquiries from Texas consumers requesting catastrophic coverage. Catastrophic Texas health insurance coverage is a policy that will provide financial protection from medical bills considered extraordinary or extremely high. However, what the consumer is typically looking for is the lowest premium possible while believing the way to accomplish the goal is to strip basic benefits from the policy and to significantly increase the deductible. Stateside believes that cost effective coverage can be accomplished while still maintaining a more than suitable benefits package.
The interest in catastrophic coverage is driven by the need to reduce premium cost. Texas consumers will typically increase deductible as the first step to reduce premium cost. Stateside advises consumers to evaluate premium savings realized by eliminating or reducing benefits such as office visit co-pays before increasing deductible. The office visit co-pay has been very popular in the past but is becoming increasingly scrutinized based on the benefit received in relationship to the additional premium costs.
An office visit co-pay establishes a fixed, predetermined price for the consultation with a physician. In almost all cases, the office visit co-pay only pays the cost of the consultation. Other services, such as lab, x-ray, injections or supplies are not paid by the office visit co-pay benefit. The predetermined fee is typically either $25, $30, or $35 depending on the carrier. Texas consumers need to confirm that the additional premium paid for the co-pay benefit actually results in value based on the expected number of office visits.
Consumers will many times want to increase the deductible to $7,500 or more believing that the higher deductible limits will result in the greatest overall savings. The Texas health insurance premium will be reduced but the savings are not in direct relationship with the increase in deductible. For example, a 45 year old male living in Houston might pay $170 for a $2,500 deductible policy. In order to reduce premium, the insured evaluates the benefits of increasing the deductible to $3,500 for a monthly premium of $146. The increase in deductible results in an annual savings of $288 but an increase in financial exposure of $1,000. If the insured evaluates increasing the $2,500 deductible to $5,000, the annual savings would be $420 with an increase in financial exposure of $2,500. If the insured evaluates increasing the $2,500 deductible to $10,000, the annual savings would be $732 with an increase in financial exposure of $7,500. It is easy to realize that any annual premium savings will be wiped out for years with any claims that exceed the baseline $2,500 deductible. For example, it would take almost 2.5 years of premium savings to recoup a $3,500 claim if the insured changed from a $2,500 deductible to a $5,000 deductible policy.
Another common practice by Texas consumers when requesting catastrophic coverage is to eliminate the prescription benefit or select coverage with a $500 or $1,000 prescription deductible. Although significant premium savings can be realized by forgoing or modifying the prescription benefit, the savings are eliminated if any type of maintenance drug is recommended to treat a condition. For example, a cholesterol prescription which can eliminate the potential for a large medical expense related to a heart attack can cost $160 per month. If the insured has a prescription benefit, the monthly co-pay would be $30 for the prescription, so the higher premium paid to include the prescription benefit can easily be justified.
In today’s economic environment, it is much more beneficial to customize coverage in order to meet budgetary goals than it is to make compromises in coverage with the belief that there will be overall premium savings realized.
Texas Jarvis is a licensed Texas health insurance agent with extensive experience regarding Individual Texas health insurance plans . Texas health insurance quote
Tim Jarvis is a licensed Texas health insurance agent with vast knowledge of the Individual health insurance market in Texas. More Texas health insurance information can be found at http://www.texasplans.com
Author Bio: Texas Jarvis is a licensed Texas health insurance agent with extensive experience regarding Individual Texas health insurance plans . Texas health insurance quote
Category: Finances
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