Using Your Health Insurance
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Even though the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March, 2010, you or someone you know may be buying health insurance for the first time. Perhaps the deterrent of a penalty of 2% of taxable income above the filing limit, or $325 per adult, whichever is greater, for the year 2015, spurred your purchase of health insurance.
Now that you have that health insurance, what do you do with it? Who can you trust to provide factual information about buying and using health insurance?
Explaining Health Insurance — Resources
K-State Research and Extension has a series of factsheets called ACA Facts: The Affordable Care Act in Kansas. One of the most informative factsheets is “What Did Health Reform Do for Health Insurance?”, because basic insurance terms like “premium” and “co-payment” are explained. You can read the individual factsheet by clicking here: http://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3103.pdf. Read the entire series of factsheets on the “Issues in Health Reform” blog by clicking here: www.ksre.ksu.edu/issuesinhealthreform and going to the Publications section.
Another reliable source of information is the Kansas Insurance Department’s website www.insureks.org. Kansas Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer, CPA from Johnson County, leads the Kansas Insurance Department, and they are maintaining the InsureKS.org website. Particularly helpful is the Insurance How-To Guide, linked on the first screen of their website. Check it out! The Guide clearly outlines eight steps for using your health insurance.
You are paying for health insurance, so you need to use it, and do so in an informed manner. If you still have questions about health insurance after tapping these resources, or prefer to talk with someone about your health insurance questions, call our office at 913-715-7000. Ask for Valeria Edwards, FCS Agent, whose Family Resource Management programming includes health insurance literacy.