Review

First, look at your past claims to get a good picture of your usage. You might check a couple years if one happened to be unusual. Log in to YourHealthAlliance.org to easily review your medical and pharmacy claims histories.

Compare

Next, take a look at the total expense for the different plans and consider:

Premiums^* – Total each plan's biweekly premiums to find out what your annual costs would be.

Copays and Coinsurance^* – Using your past-years medical and pharmacy usage, consider how much you might pay in copays or coinsurance with each plan over the course of a year.

Deductibles and Annual Maximum^* – Consider a worst-case scenario year and what you can comfortably pay when considering your deductible and annual out-of-pocket maximum.  

^*For definitions of these terms see the Good to Know section at the bottom of this page

Consider

Finally, take these things into account before making your decision:

• If you have access to other group health coverage through your spouse, take time to understand which plan is the best fit for you and your family by comparing out-of-pocket costs, premiums and coverage options.

• Think about regularly putting money, to be used on medical expenses, into a Health Savings or Flex Spending account. These are pre-tax payroll deductions so you'll use tax-free dollars on your care.

• Use the free My WealthCare Online cost comparison tool provided by Benefit Planning Consultants (BPC). It takes less than five minutes to estimate out-of-pocket costs for a plan. Please register if you do not already have an account set up.

• Based on your annual usage, balance the decision to pay more up-front in premiums or pay more later in out-of-pocket expenses. What are you most comfortable with?