March 15, 2008
Using Your Health Insurance Card
by Joan Carr, Director of Revenue Management
Understanding health insurance can be frustrating as well as frightening. This article will help you understand the need for the information on your health insurance card.
Health insurance information is most needed when someone is sick. This is not usually a time when anyone wants to take the time to understand it.
Your insurance cards are extremely important to ensure your claims are paid correctly. This is not only for your health insurance, but for other insurance claims as well. We will focus on health insurance in this article.
Health Insurance Company
There are hundreds of Blue Cross, United, and Aetna offices all over the country, each with their own claims processing department. The information on the front and back of your card helps your physician or hospital identify the correct office to send you claim to. This is why it is important to bring your card with you for each visit. Sometimes, when an insurance office changes its address or phone number, the physician or hospital billing office will find out about the change before you get a new card with the updated information on it. By showing your card at your visit, the registration person can verify the information right then and there. This is especially important at the beginning of the calendar year when employers change insurance companies or change coverage plans.
Pointer: Whenever you change insurance companies make sure to tell your providers and give them a copy of your new insurance card.
Group & Individual Numbers
Each insurance plan has a different number. For example, if your company offers two plans from Blue Cross, each will have its own number, even though the address and phone number remain the same. The same is true for the individual or ID number. Most plans usually give different numbers to each person covered under the plan. Sometimes the differences are not easily seen as the change may be only in the first or last part of the number. Again, because of this, it is critical that you bring your card in for verification.
Pointer: There is a national upsurge of identity theft which has now entered into health care. By bringing in your card to each visit or hospital stay, staff will be able to ensure the insurance coverage belongs to you. There have been situations where someone got surgery through stealing someone else's identity. It really messed up the medical history for the person whose identity was stolen. Always ensure this card is kept in a protected place, just like your driver's license or social security card. Use it when you need to, but keep it protected too.
Co-Pays
Some cards tell you what your co-pay will be for visits to your primary care physician or to a specialist. Sometimes these are different. Compare these amounts on the card to what your statement from the insurance company (explanation of benefits or EOB) says. Make sure these amounts are the same. If not, contact your employer or your insurance company immediately as there might be an error in how your coverage was set up or there possibly was a computer problem. Your employer's benefit department can advocate to the insurance company for you.
If you have specific questions about a YKHC bill, our patient information line is available. Please make sure you have your insurance information with you when you call to discuss your bill. Patient Accounts: 907-543-6398