Choosing Health Insurance & Hospital Rip-Offs

Health insurance is a popular subject towards the end of the year as many people go through open enrollment to signup for the following year and try and spend their funds before the flexible spending account deadline.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot this last month as we finally made the move to a health savings account and high deductible health plan.  I’ve also been writing quite a bit about insurance over at the Currency site; I’ve been talking about what works for us and some of the troubles we’ve run into.

Health Insurance: A Strategy for Year-End Savings – Read this quick, before the end of the year. I share how my wife only paid $20.28 to have all four wisdom teeth removed.  The total bill from the dentist was $857.36 and she paid a $95 co-pay the morning she went in. So the dentist actually ended up mailing us a check for $74.72 after insurance processed the claim!

Is Your Hospital or Your Insurer Ripping You Off? – Here I share some tips on how to work with your hospital to avoid getting ripped off.  I’m not exaggarating, I really do mean ripped off.  For example, being charged for a procedure that was never even done.  I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read the hospital bill for our little girl.  They billed us $800 for a circumcision, for a girl!  The bill showed she was a girl but still charged us anyway. Ridiculous.

How Much Insurance Do You Really Need? – Choosing the right amount of insurance to buy can really be more of an art than a science.  I talk about analyzing the amount you’ll need, watching your dedutibles, and looking out for exclusions.

I have another one coming up pretty soon where I talk about the things I learned that surprised me about Health Savings Accounts.  I knew the main differences between a flexible spending account vs health savings account but as I went through the process of signing up I ran across the things I didn’t expect.

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

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