ObamaCare: What Does Open Enrollment Mean To You? #MC #Aflac

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Aflac and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

What Does Open Enrollment Mean To You?

It seems there is a bit of confusion this year surrounding open enrollment.  With the introduction of Health Care Reform and ObamaCare employees and employers are scrambling to figure out what to do for 2014.  Open enrollment has always been stressful enough for the average employee and a lot of work for the human resource departments of most companies.  I know because prior to working in social media and being a blogger I worked for over 15 years as a human resource executive.  I’ve been at an advantage that most people have not as I have designed and implemented the benefit changes for several companies and have overseen open enrollment for many years.  However, now I’m probably as lost as everyone else so it’s always helpful to have people I can ask and resources available to me to learn more about open enrollment.

A recent Aflac survey revealed that 69% of workers have not yet been told about their employer’s changes to their benefits packages due to health care reform despite the October 1st deadline.  According to the survey employers are anticipating that costs to employees will increase as well as gaps in coverage.  If this is true supplemental insurance like policies offered by Aflac will be more valuable than ever before.  Because open enrollment is open for a limited window it is more important for you to contact your HR department and take advantage of this opportunity.

Why Supplemental Insurance Is Important

In December of 2010 I was having pain and bloating in my abdomen and after 4 days I finally went to the ER to have it checked out.  Once the x-rays came back I was notified they would be preforming emergency surgery.  My gallbladder had gotten badly infected and inflamed and they needed to take it out.  What I thought was going to be a trip to the ER for a few hours turned into an 8 day stay in the hospital.  Those 8 days also resulted in loss of pay from work.  It also involved a pretty big bill from the doctors, radiologist, and anesthesiologist for the portion my health insurance did not cover.  Because it wasn’t an accident my Accident Policy with Aflac offered no monetary benefit.  It was the Hospitalization Policy I needed.  I didn’t chose it the prior year but since all this happened during our company’s open enrollment I did get it for 2011.

Hospital Confinement Indemnity Insurance

No matter how good your major medical insurance is, when you’re hospitalized for an injury or illness there will probably be medical expenses and out of pocket costs that aren’t covered. A hospital confinement indemnity insurance policy provides cash benefits to use as you see fit. The hospitalization benefits are predetermined and paid regardless of any other insurance you have, and you have a choice of applying for basic to more robust supplemental hospitalization insurance. Whether you want a hospital indemnity plan that provides hospitalization benefits only, or one that also addresses diagnostic procedures, outpatient surgery and ambulance transportation, Aflac can help.

Some Aflac hospital confinement indemnity insurance advantages:

• Increased benefit amount for the first five days of hospitalization per calendar year
• HSA compatible policies are available
• We don’t use networks, so you can be treated at the hospital of your choice
• No deductibles
• No precertification
• You own your policy, so even if you change jobs or retire, you can take it with you.

If we would have had that policy we would have been in a much better place and in 2011, December, we realized just what a life saver it was when I was in the hospital again for a week to have a hysterectomy.  It covered my loss of pay from work and then some…

This open enrollment season I highly recommend you consult with your employer’s HR department.  If they aren’t offering Aflac be sure to ask them why and if they haven’t heard of it before feel free to share this post with them.  I would be more than happy to tell you more about my experiences as an HR professional and as a customer.