Authored by Russ Weiss, CFP® & Melissa Gattusso, President/CEO of The H.I.P. Group
Did you know you may have “extras” built into your health plan premium? Many of these benefits have ZERO cost share for the member and some even pay you to do them!
The easiest one by far is your annual preventative physical: Doing this every year can help improve your health and detect potential health problems in the early stages, which can ultimately lead to fewer office visits and prescriptions.
Have you heard of Virtual Care?
Insurance carriers use services like Teledoc and MD Live to provide care with $0 copay or reduced cost share for virtual (phone or video) visits.
- Telemedicine: services to help diagnose and manage common medical conditions.
- Telebehavioral: virtual appointments with board-certified psychiatrists or licensed psychologists to address concerns of anxiety, depression, grief, etc.
- Teledermatology: receive reliable skin care from a licensed dermatologist for common skin conditions.
- Telenutrition: access to personalized virtual nutrition counseling.
Wellbeing Rewards
Chronic medical conditions, unhealthy life choices, and mental health issues are key factors in the rising cost of healthcare. To help combat rising costs, carriers have developed reward programs (accessed through the carrier’s app) as an incentive for members to encourage healthier lifestyles.
These wellbeing rewards are dollar amounts earned by members for completing wellness and preventative care activities throughout the year, for example, getting an annual flu shot, routine dental cleaning, or receiving a health screening, plus many others.
Healthy Lifestyles Fitness Programs
Carriers also encourage exercise and some provide incentives to members who work out by reimbursing a monetary amount for a certain number of workouts throughout a 12-month period.
Some programs will reimburse up to $150.00/year if you and the fitness center meet the requirements.
Why Should You Care?
The best reason is a healthier you! And if that isn’t reason enough, these programs will help save you (and in some cases earn you) money.
If participating in these programs feels overwhelming to start, try picking just one. The next time you wake up in the morning with a sore throat or an earache, set up a telemedicine visit to help save you the copay. Or look into making healthier food choices by setting up a nutrition counseling visit to discuss how to accomplish your goals.
Whatever program you decide to do, just know that these wellbeing rewards and healthy lifestyle resources are there to help empower and support members to take charge of their wellness in an easy and convenient way.
