Insurance Open Enrollment Preparation, Planning saves $750

Insurance Open Enrollment — It’s THAT time of year again!

Insurance Open Enrollment Preparation and Choices can be Scarier than Halloween!

Insurance Open Enrollment — It happens EVERY year!

Just like Halloween, setting the clock back, and darker days, Insurance Open Enrollment Options roll out in the fall.  The impact of choosing from different insurance options can be scary and costly for your family!

Did you know?

• 55% of American workers estimate they waste $750 by making poor insurance choices  (Aflac Open Enrollment survey of 2000 workers) That’s 4 months worth of groceries for a single person!
• 25% of workers feel they chose the wrong level of benefits for their household
• 89% of people just choose the same benefits year after year after year

What Exactly IS Insurance Open Enrollment?

Open Enrollment is a time period where companies roll out their different insurance options and employees are allowed to choose the health care packages that make the best sense for their families.  These choices are basically binding for the next year!

Making the Hard, Costly and Scary Health Care Choices!

The hard part is trying to figure out what will happen with your family during the next year when making choices!  Sure, you can always look at your past year and try to predict, then making your choices based on these numbers but most Americans don’t choose all that wisely.

Did you know? 

• Almost 50% of American workers rarely or never exceed their deductibles
• 50% of American companies think they communicate Open Enrollment options very well to their employees BUT 52% of employees say their company has not communicated with them about insurance options at all!
• Only 16% of employees feel that they contributed the RIGHT amount to Flexible Spending Accounts

Conquering the Insurance Open Enrollment Blues

Here’s some tips on making better choices during your company’s Open Enrollment period:

• Educate yourself–Read the materials provided, ask questions, attend company presentations of health care options
• Prepare for what you know–Do you know that you need an operation in the next year?  Are you aware that braces are coming up for your kids? Is a new baby on the horizon?
• Take yourself off AutoPilot–Pretend you don’t even know which choice you had last year.  Re-evaluate all the options again based on your most current information
• Understand your Flexible Spending Accounts– Work to discover best approach to not over/under fund.
• Evaluate whether you Need Supplemental Insurances — these polices help you cover loss of income, hotel stays when away from home, meet payments that are due (mortgage, etc).

Women over 45 and Insurance Open Enrollment Considerations

As women over 45, we often have many considerations that we must take into account that are different from our younger friends.  Women over 45, don’t forget these factors when choosing your health care this fall:

• Perimenopause or menopause onset
• Children in or leaving for college
• Retirement decisions
• Declining health factor due to aging
• Obesity related issues
• Elderly parents may need help with choices too

Check out this for even more considerations!  Follow @Aflac for timely tips during this fall Open Enrollment season.