The Basics
Hey there friends! Glad you made it! I want to make it worth your time. Who wants to read about something boring or long? Not me! My goal as you follow my blog is to help you create an educated opinion on your own personal insurance state and your families, if that is the case.
But first a quick introduction, my name is Erin. I started helping individuals and families with insurance about three years ago after working as my brothers administrative assistant. I began building my own cliental when our family moved out of state for my husband to finish his schooling. I have always felt like insurance was way over so many peoples heads and the lack of understand was so sad, and honestly it felt like that for me personally. A personality flaw is that I have a tendency to see something that is outrageously boring or confusing and make it my new favorite thing, like insurance! I am an avid reader and began to delve into as many books as I could get my hands on and finally felt like I had built up enough of an understanding that I could explain it to new clients in a way that made sense to them.
Any way, little more about me outside of insurance, I love weeding and gardening and getting my hands dirty! I grew up on a farm with horses and cattle and dream of being in a place one day that my kids can experience some version of my favorite memories! Speaking of kids I have 4,3 girls and 1 boy and they are my very favorite people to be around! I love my role as a mom and felt like it is very important that my children to see I have goals and am working towards being an individual myself and being their mom all in balance. My husband is my top favorite person! He's the best person for me! We have a couple of dogs, Chip and Gus and a few chickens, and one rabbit named Ray!
Okay, enough about me, lets cut to the chase, why you are here and what questions you are hoping to have answered! I mean, who doesn't have questions about insurance? I can seem like a huge mess but one that can be totally navigated with the correct information!
When you think about insurance there are some words you hear thrown around, premiums, out of pocket max, deductibles, bla bla bla! So many things! Lets break it down, when you hear the word premium that's referring to the price you pay the insurance company to insure you. This price can be expensive or zero dollars depending on your income, if you have employer coverage, or are on Medicare. The plan you pay for comes with a deductible. Here's one of the best definitions I have found:
An insurance deductible is the amount of money a policyholder must pay out of pocket for a covered claim before their insurance policy begins to contribute. For example, if a deductible is $500and the total claim amount is $2,000 , the policyholder pays the first $500, and the insurance covers the remaining $1,500.
Something to keep in mind is that usually higher deductible plans will have a lower premium monthly premium and visa versa. Similar to a deductible is the out of pocket maximum. This would refer to the amount you would pay over an extended period of time or over several claims. Here's a good definition for you:
An out-of-pocket maximum is the most a policyholder has to pay for covered services in a policy period (usually a year) before their insurance covers 100% of the remaining costs. This includes deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance but does not include premiums or services not covered by the policy. Once the out-of-pocket maximum is reached, the insurance company pays for all eligible expenses for the rest of the policy period.
Those three things are super important when looking into plans and making a plan choice. Keep in mind that sometimes the cheapest premium plan may not be the best option and selecting one that has a little bit higher premium will cover your cost more effectively! Personal story here, my first year selecting our own insurance plan as a family we had just finished school and my husband had started receiving a steady income. I thought, Okay we'll just go with the cheapest premium, that seemed to make sense to me until I received the plan booklet and was reading a little more deeply, and boy, had I selected the wrong plan. Had we gone to the hospital for any major procedure we would have ended up paying way more with this plan that was less expensive on the outside. I went to work educating myself more and finding ways to help that out of the pocket cost. I found that you pay for risk in your premium. A lower premium could contribute to a higher risk later to pay more for procedures and emergencies. Boy, I double check now and make sure that, every part of my plan, is going to be the best for me and my family.
More on that in the next post! If you would like a little help understanding what your plans has please reach out! My goal is to educate and i find great joy in doing just that free of charge! Watch for part 2 of the basics coming soon!
*I need to give full credit to ChatGBT for providing those fabulous definitions!
