The In-Network News

Health Insurance is incredibly complicated, and I didn’t understand mine when I needed it the most.

A recent study found that 56% of people are completely lost when it comes to health insurance. Only 47% of people know what procedures are covered. When you are relatively healthy, the details of your plan might not be your highest priority. The problem is that you can’t predict when you might have a medical event.

That’s what happened to me in 2016. I was out of town at a regional tournament for my son’s high school tennis team and when I woke up in my hotel room my left eye had blurry vision. I kept thinking it would go away throughout the day, but it didn’t. When I got back home, I saw an Optometrist. He did all the exams and then referred me to an Ophthalmologist. He ran all the tests available, and he referred me to a Neurologist. By now I knew this was serious. The Neurologist ran many tests including an MRI of the brain. When the results came back, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

My whole life was changed forever at that moment because this is a disease without a cure. The entire process of getting to that diagnosis took three months because of getting appointments scheduled for different specialists and imaging places. That was precious time that could have been spent getting treatment for my vision, but sadly the damage was done. I was told that I will likely never get my vision back in that eye.

I didn’t understand my health insurance at that time in my life as I should have. I didn’t know that the MRIs that I needed weren’t covered until after my deductible. I didn’t know that you could ask the imaging facility for a cash price that might be cheaper than paying my deductible. I had no idea that the specialty medication that I needed for my new diagnosis wasn’t covered by my health plan. I never would have thought that the medication I needed was $7500.00 per month. I also discovered that oftentimes, the drug manufacturers offer copay assistance programs.

All these things I had to figure out on my own. It took many months to learn all these things.

At Brinson Benefits, we include a service called The Purple Card, a team of experts that are dedicated to helping your employees resolve any issue involving their benefits. The Purple Card could have helped me navigate through all these things, but I didn’t have access to a service like that. That is what makes The Purple Card so unique. Whether you are an owner who wants the best for your employees or in Human Resources and you don’t have the time to help your employees understand their health insurance, This service will let you shift your focus back to what is important for your job. We have bilingual associates as well. Advocacy is not just a service we provide, it’s who we are.