As every gamer knows, when you invest and upgrade your skills and your tools it can change your entire experience of the game for the better. You can face more difficult challenges, earn more rewards, and get to access to more play options.
It’s no different with health insurance. You can invest in supplemental health insurance to help you make progress on your health goals, increase your abilities to address health challenges and go further with managing your good health than you may have thought was possible. Check out these three tips on upgrading your health insurance game.
Tip #1: Choose health insurance upgrades that make your healthcare options better
Are you depending on your government health plan for all of your healthcare? That’s not the best game plan. Your provincial health insurance plan may not cover all the costs for healthcare, especially if more specialized or complex care is required. With individual health insurance, you have more options for managing your health than you do with provincial insurance alone. Because supplemental health insurance covers additional treatment options not covered by provincial plans, you have greater freedom to choose the treatment that is best for you. Managing health problems like chronic pain and mental health issues with supplemental treatments can improve your quality of (the game of) life. A supplemental health insurance plan is like having a safety net to protect you and your family against substantial medical expenses. Instead of struggling to pay out of pocket, you’ll know your insurance plan will cover many of the costs of your medical care.
If you are lucky and already have group health insurance, take a good look at it. Are there gaps you should fill in to get missing benefits you need to take care of your health? Do you have enough coverage to keep you and your family going?
Whether that is through the use of prescription medication or by working with a registered psychologist or going to the dentist on an ongoing basis, you will be better able to manage your ongoing healthcare needs when you don’t have the added challenge of figuring out how to pay for that care. Without additional coverage through an individual insurance plan, you may not have access to the treatment you need.
Tip #2: Learn to use the tools you get in your plan
The reward of having your individual health insurance plan is that you get new tools to take care of your health! Armed with your newly-found options and abilities, you can go even further in the managing your health game – sometimes even earning points!
Most health plans have wellness tools included, and some are built around the idea of progress in improving your health. As you can imagine, you can get motivated to try your best to use all of these ‘power-ups’ to your advantage. Regardless of what health insurance plan you choose, the goal is the same – become better fast!
With every experience in managing your health you can adapt to health conditions and gain skills to manage them.
- use your plan’s free, confidential, and professional counselling and mental health resources
- access to digital service options like that ‘bring the pharmacy to you’ while monitoring your medication safety and, when needed, help you to optimize your medication therapy
- shift to telemedicine online access to Canadian-licensed doctors for medical care within minutes
- get virtual or remote treatment for physiotherapy or tele-dentistry from the comfort of your own home.
Tip #3: The game changer is understanding the difference between guaranteed and medically underwritten plans
When thinking about buying health insurance it’s easy to focus on the easiest way to get what you want to take care of your health now, mental, and physical. If you’re young and in good health, you’re likely getting the lowest monthly premiums for your plan. The fact is there are no guarantees you will get the same rates if you change your mind on what plan to have and reapply in the future or even that you’ll qualify if your health changes.
You don’t want to play around when choosing a health insurance plan to buy or spend endless hours reviewing your options, so its good to know there are two kinds of plan designs you should understand
Guaranteed Acceptance or Guaranteed to Issue Plans
This is ‘no medical questions asked’ health insurance. If you have serious health issues (pre-existing conditions in insurance jargon), or you have high ongoing prescription drug bills you may not qualify for other health insurance, or your particular condition may be excluded. When you apply for a guaranteed health insurance plan you are not asked anything about your health, so your current medications and conditions are typically covered
Medically Underwritten Health Plans
When you apply for these plans, you are asked questions about your health, and it will be reviewed (or underwritten) before you are accepted for coverage. Most health applications only take about 10 minutes to complete and if you are generally healthy, it’s worth your time. With this type of plan, they will generally cover more, offering higher coverage levels or more healthcare expenses covered – and it will be at a lower cost.
Here is more information on the differences in plans you can apply for depending on your health. Remember, the best approach is to complete a health questionnaire and see if you are eligible.
It’s up to you to get the perfect health insurance
At SBIS we believe health insurance is about living your life to the fullest. We can get you started with the exciting, innovative health insurance plan options and compare plans from most major insurers for you to make it easy for you to choose the plan best for you — and we know you’ll love the rewards! Go online here for a quote now. Congratulations on upgrading your knowledge on how to enjoy a bright, healthy future!
