How to Check if Your Health Insurance Is Active
“To sum it up…”
- It is absolutely vital that you know whether your policy is active or not
- You can figure out if your policy is active or not by calling, checking your policy documents, or by visiting your insurance company’s website
- This can save you thousands in out-of-pocket medical expenses
Health insurance is a complex issue, and many people struggle to manage their own health insurance coverage. One of the things that people commonly struggle with is determining whether their health insurance is active or not at any given time. It sounds like this would be easier to determine, but unfortunately, this is often not the case. Different health insurance policies have different start dates and varying criteria that must be met before the policy becomes active.
While there are a number of different policies that you can find from comparing prices online, each of them requires different actions determine if the policy is really active or not. This article provides an overview and some suggestions that will help you determine whether your health insurance policy is active at any given moment.
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The following are three ways you can get in touch with your health insurance provider and check the status of your policy.
Speak to Your Insurance Company Customer Service Over the Phone
Probably the most popular way to figure out whether your insurance policy is active or not(or what date it becomes active in the future)is to call up your insurance company’s customer service line and ask them about it. Unfortunately, many insurance companies these days have automated systems. It is always possible to speak to a real life person, but it may take awhile to get through to them.
When you are comparing health insurance quotes online, you may want to look into the insurance companies a little more thoroughly to find out more about their customer service.
After you have purchased your health insurance policy through a price comparison service, read on for some more tips about how to effectively communicate over the phone with your health insurance company.
– Getting Through To a Real Person
To make absolutely sure that you know whether your health insurance policy is active or not, it is imperative that you speak to a real person.
Unfortunately, with the proliferation of automated phone systems these days, this can be easier said than done. Some automated systems are set up so that if you say “real person” or “I want to speak to a representative” you will automatically be directed to a live person. However, this is not necessarily the industry standard. You may need to pay close attention to the automated system and pick the right options until you can speak to a real person.
Keep in mind how important it is to figure out whether your health insurance is active or not. It’ll be more than worth the trouble you have to go through to figure out this information.
As previously mentioned, you may want to check out a company’s customer service when you’re comparing their prices through an online price comparison service. You may be able to figure out their customer service number and called yourself, just to check it out (even though you are not a member yet).
Check Your Insurance Policy’s Paperwork
Another way to figure out your health insurance policy’s activation date is to check the paperwork you received when you bought the policy. You may want to do this after speaking to a representative on the phone to make sure the representative is correct. Usually, a customer service representative for a health insurance company will be able to provide you with the correct date.
As this information is very important, it can’t hurt to double-check this on your own paperwork. This may seem like a daunting task, given the amount and complexity of the paperwork that usually comes with a health insurance policy. However, it doesn’t have to be quite so intimidating.
Usually, the policy declaration page (which is generally clearly marked) has the activation date of the health insurance policy on it. Even if it doesn’t, you may not be in trouble. These days most insurance companies include a table of contents with the packet of paperwork they send to their policyholders. This should make it easier for you to find your policy activation date.
If the activation date is not on the policy declaration page and you don’t have a table of contents, you may be stuck looking through the paperwork for a while. Keep in mind that the activation date is absolutely vital, so this search is worth it.
Check the Insurance Company’s Website
In years past, health insurance companies were notorious for having websites that were difficult to understand. However, recently insurance companies have made a concerted effort to make the websites easier to understand. This is a very important trend, as many of their policyholders get information about their policies from the website more than any other source. This is especially true for people who are searching for the activation date of their health insurance.
All of the major insurance companies have a policyholders-only section of the website that their customers can log into. There, they can find all they info they need about their account, including their policy activation date.
Most insurance companies make it easy to find your policy’s activation date. Often, it is displayed at the top of the user interface. If it isn’t, you’ll probably be able to use the website’s search engine to find it.
Why Determining Whether Your Health Insurance is Active or Not is So Important
Many people get medical treatment and are forced to pay the balance themselves because their health insurance isn’t actually active. This can result in thousands of dollars of out of pocket expenses. Obviously, it is vital to determine with absolute certainty whether your policy is active or not.
Don’t make an educated guess about when the policy starts. Find out for sure. The peace of mind you’ll get from this is more than worth the hassle. If you use the advice given above, you should be able to figure out whether your policy is active or not in a few hours.
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- https://www.healthcare.gov/apply-and-enroll/complete-your-enrollment/
- https://www.healthcare.gov/contact-us/
- http://www.rd.com/advice/saving-money/how-to-get-through-to-a-real-live-person/
- http://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/understanding-health-insurance-paperwork
- https://www.healthcare.gov/quick-guide/dates-and-deadlines/
- https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/