Does a Bronze Plan Cover the Same Services as a Silver, Gold or Platinum...

Does a Bronze Plan Cover the Same Services as a Silver, Gold or Platinum...

June 03, 2014

…on Your Ohio Health Insurance Plan?

This question alone is a decent amount of proof that assigning medals to health insurance plans doesn't make it easier to understand.
The short answer to this question, not really.

Someone, somewhere in a fancy room in Washington D.C. thought it would be clever to treat health insurance like it were competing in the olympic games.

Now, both you and I will be stuck saying, bronze, silver, gold, or on rare occasions platinum, after our health insurance plan name.

What this designation was suppose to do was provide and easy symbol to identify a plans overall actuarial value.

That's a fancy insurance word for how much money you ultimately have to pay for covered medical services.

Where that comparison falls apart into tiny pieces is when you look at the actual money you have to spend every month on that health insurance plan.

The creation of the 10 Essential Health Benefits, ensures your health insurance plan will have a majority of the coverage you are looking for (or will probably need).

That means services like a lab test, x-ray, MRI, surgery or hospital stay will all be covered under your policy, regardless of what place it might finish.

The biggest difference you will see from medal to medal is the addition or subtraction of copays for things like doctors visits or prescription medication. You can also expect to be paying more money upfront due to a higher deductible and out-of-pocket maximum.

If you want to read up a little more on my opinion of copays and why there's a pretty good chance you're overpaying for them, you can do that here.

The biggest lesson that can be learned here is that you shouldn't blindly assume going with a “higher medal” will get you better coverage. You are going to want to take the time to figure out where the trade off is between your monthly payment and your overall out-of-pocket maximum.

If you don't, well you give yourself a pretty big head start to paying more money than you need to for your health insurance.

Watch the short video below for a more detailed breakdown of the different medals and what they cover.

This video is part of a five-day-a-week series that promises to answer one of your questions every day we are open for business. If you want to come along for the ride, click the subscribe button on the left:

If you would like some help with auto insurance or want to make sure I'm a real human being, you can send me an email, give me a call at 440-964-8211 or talk face to face over the internet.

Giangola Insurance Agency, Inc.

1000 Lake Ave.
Ashtabula, OH 44004
Phone: 440-964-8211
Email: joey@giangolainsurance.com

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