Healthcare

Health insurance plans can seem like they’re written in secret code.

Between trying to decipher mysterious acronyms — like HSAs, FSAs, and HDHPs — and remembering your portal password, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

"Many of the people we work with feel overwhelmed with the process of choosing the right health insurance plan options," says Scott Spann, a financial planner with Financial Finesse, a provider of workplace financial wellness benefits.. "The majority of Americans are anxious about rising premiums and choosing the right type of coverage." But digging into the details is well worth the effort, he adds.

As high deductible healthcare plans continue to grow in popularity, it’s important to at least take time to understand the basics. Failing to take the time to review your options can be a costly mistake.

Can’t find your decoder ring? This primer can help you get started. EdLogics members can find more in the Glossary of Terms on our Health Insurance learning page.

Common Health Insurance Terms

1. Benefit: A treatment, test, or other healthcare that health insurance helps pay for.
2. Co-payment: A fixed amount you pay for a doctor’s visit, medication, or other healthcare expense. You usually pay it when you have the visit or get the medication.
3. Deductible: The amount you have to pay in a benefit year before your insurance kicks in. If your deductible is $2,000 and your first bill of the year is $3,000, then you would pay $2,000 of the bill, and your health plan would help pay for the rest.
4. Drug formulary: A list of prescription medications a health plan helps pay for.
5. Enrollment period: Period of time when people are allowed to sign up for a health plan. For many people, enrollment periods happen every November. You might be able to sign up at other times if you have a qualifying event, like losing a job or getting divorced.
6. Health savings account (HSA): A special savings account that you put money in for healthcare costs. You don’t pay taxes on money in HSAs, so you can save money. HSAs are usually used with high-deductible health plans.
7. High-deductible health plan (HDHP): Health insurance that costs less up front (lower premiums), but you pay for more of your healthcare costs before your insurance kicks in.
8. Network: A group of doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare services that work with your health insurance. Health insurance covers more costs for healthcare in-network than out-of-network.
9. Out-of-pocket: Healthcare costs your plan won’t pay for. You are responsible for paying these costs yourself.
10. Premium: A fee you pay regularly for health insurance. Most people pay their premiums every month, but it can vary from company to company.

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A version of this article was originally published 6/28/2017.

More and more people are talking about health literacy across the globe.

Experts in medicine, government and public policy are continuing to expand their understanding of the incredible opportunity that increasing health literacy can have in improving health and health outcomes.

Low health literacy means someone has trouble understanding basic healthcare facts, and it often leads to poor health outcomes. These challenges include:

• Accessing information about medical topics
• Understanding and following medical information
• Making good decisions about their health
• Understanding risk factors
• Following basic instructions on treatments and care

At the recent Health Literacy Conference presented by Wisconsin Literacy in Madison, Wisconsin, luminaries and academics in the area of health literacy met to discuss how to better address the global challenges and costs associated with low health literacy.

In a panel led by the International Health Literacy Association (IHLA), the organization shared its goals and tactics for addressing this global issue.

The International Health Literacy Association (IHLA) is a member-based association for professional development within the health literacy field. IHLA serves a diverse range of stakeholders, medicals, public health professionals, educators, as well as many others engaged in health literacy, research, policy, education and practice.

While research is being conducted across the globe, there is currently little coordination of these efforts or even the sharing of critical data and findings. Not surprisingly, much of this research is carried out within very homogenous populations. This makes the global relevancy of any accumulated data a relatively complex topic.

The IHLA seeks to help in a number of ways:

• Author and publish peer reviewed journals on the subject of health literacy research
• Become the go-to aggregator of health literacy activities, projects and practices worldwide
• Encourage cross-national collaboration
• Become the “keeper” of health literacy’s best practices
• Advocate for global health literacy awareness
• Raise public awareness about the need to increase health literacy

The IHLA launched with meeting in North America, Asia and Europe. They are currently developing a schedule for upcoming meetings and initiatives.

They are also forming work groups and creating a more formal organizational structure. Visit the International Health Literacy Association for more informaton.

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A version of this article was originally published 4/18/2017.

sing telemedicine, or telehealth — where you see a doctor online from your own home rather than in person — can save you time, money, and often a lot of hassles. Discover how telemedicine works, what health problems it's often used for, and how it can help you.

This is an example of the engaging healthcare infographics available to users of The EdLogics Platform, a gamified space that improves employee engagement and health literacy.

View, share, download, and print our huge collection of free infographics on a variety of topics, from preventing and managing common health problems to navigating the healthcare system.

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A version of this post was first published 6/7/2018.