Fall is here and marks the end of the harvesting season. The nights are getting longer and colder. It won’t be long before the first frost of the season arrives. When that happens, the veggies left out on the vine won’t be worth picking.
It’s also insurance benefit harvest time. For most people insurance benefits reset in January. If you have a deductible, you have to start paying again before the insurance company does. If you have a medical savings account and didn’t use all those dollars, they vanish on New Year’s eve at the stroke of midnight. Now is the time to make use of your 2008 insurance benefits. Once Halloween arrives, we blink and it’s time to ring in the New Year. If you need care and you still have insurance benefits, now is the time to make plans to use them.
And don’t forget to plan for next year. As I mentioned earlier, for the vast majority of people, the insurance clock resets on January 1st. A lot can happen between New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Deductibles can appear out of nowhere, co-payments can double, benefits can be slashed. If you have a choice of plans through your workplace, take the time to review the benefits now. There’s only one way to do that right…read your policy. That’s the best way to make sure your health care garden keeps you covered next year.
