If you've ever worked for a small company that changes their insurance carrier year after year after year, you know what it means to try to have to go find a new doctor and sometimes that can just be exhausting and a royal pain in the rear.
One of the biggest struggles that people have when they try to navigate their health insurance is trying to figure out how they can keep their doctor in network. If you've ever worked for a small company that changes their insurance carrier year after year after year, you know what it means to try to have to go find a new doctor and sometimes that can just be exhausting and a royal pain in the rear. So what happens if you choose to use a doctor that is not in your insurance plan's network? The truth of the matter is you still have the ability to see that doctor.
The question though is how much will the insurance pay to help cover that cost? If you see a doctor maybe once a year, maybe twice a year and you love that doctor and find out that that doctor is not in your insurance network, it still might be worth keeping that doctor and paying the cash price when you go see them. So instead of having a $50 copay, it might cost you $150 in order to see the doctor for cash, but if you're seeing them once or twice a year, that small difference might be worth it to you. You could also pick up a private or supplemental insurance policy that helps you pay for out of pocket costs.
So let's say you've got a UnitedHealthcare policy this year and it changes to Aetna next year and your doctor no longer participates in the Aetna network. It's not that your doctor won't be willing to see you, but you're going to need another piece of insurance potentially to help cover the cost that you secure at an out of network provider. So don't feel like you're held hostage to having to change doctors every time your insurance changes. You could actually choose to do it a different way.
At the end of the day, we all choose to use the doctors we connect the most with. So what happens if your doctor's out of network? Don't panic. Think and look for another opportunity that you can get the access to care to the place you want to go.
The truth of the matter is you still have the ability to see that doctor. The question though is how much will the insurance pay to help cover that cost?
If you see a doctor maybe once a year, maybe twice a year and you love that doctor, it still might be worth keeping that doctor and paying the cash price when you go see them.
You could also pick up a private or supplemental insurance policy that helps you pay for out of pocket costs. It's not that your doctor won't be willing to see you, but you're going to need another piece of insurance potentially to help cover the cost.
Don't feel like you're held hostage to having to change doctors every time your insurance changes. You could actually choose to do it a different way.
Talk to a real person.