It seems like this year flew by in a blur! Did you know that there are less than two months left till the end of the year? For most of our patients who use their insurance benefits, from now until the end of the year is a critical time. The reason is that most insurances renew at the start of each calendar year on January 1st. While this may mean your allowed visits will renew, this also means that whatever visits you have not yet used this year disappears! Not only that, if you have a PPO insurance, keep in mind that your deductible will most likely also renew on January 1st!
So how can you maximize your insurance benefits? Use up all the visits that you are allowed by your insurance before your deductible renews! If you are unsure of how many visits you have left on your insurance benefits this year, give us a call! We can easily look up your remaining benefits so you can start to plan out your visits over the next couple of months.
Many patients have a hard time understanding the concept of deductibles. Deductibles usually only apply to PPO type plans, where you are able to freely choose and visit any in-network provider, even specialists (like Acupuncturists and Chiropractors), without needing a referral from an assigned primary doctor. The downside to a PPO plan is that you will often have to pay for medical expenses out of pocket until you hit your deductible amount, which is an arbitrary amount (we often see deductibles varying from $150 to $4000) that you have to accumulate before the insurance company will kick in their benefits. By this time in the year, most of our patients have already met their deductibles, so this is the best time to take advantage of your benefits!
But even if you have an HMO insurance, many of our HMO insured patients are still limited in how many sessions they are allotted for Acupuncture and Chiropractic per year. So if you have 20 allowed visits per year but have only used 15, those 5 visits simply go away when the new year comes around. No rolling-over allowed!
Why should you maximize your insurance benefits? Well, for one thing, you're already paying for it! And even if there is no pain or any active issues, Acupuncture, Massage, Limber stretch therapy, and Chiropractic are all wonderful treatments that can help to prevent the onset of symptoms. Take this time to take care of your health! Call us to maximize your insurance benefits today!