The holiday season is upon us, and while you may be ready to spend time with family and ring in the New Year, try not to say goodbye to 2017 too quickly. Why? Because you’ve got your health to think about! That’s right, it’s time to schedule medical procedures and lab tests before the end of this year. Doing so will not only benefit you financially, but it’ll give you peace of mind!

We know what you’re thinking – it’s the end of the year and you already have a million and one things to do. Yes, it’s true – your time is limited during the holiday season. Nevertheless, it’s imperative you make your health a priority because there are certain advantages to scheduling your medical procedure before the end of the year. In this blog, we’ll outline some of the key advantages:

Meet Your Annual Deductible

If you’re close to meeting your annual deductible or you’ve already met it, there are huge cost-savings to scheduling some of your much-needed appointments now! Before your deductible resets to zero, consider scheduling the following procedures or appointments: colonoscopy, diagnostic testing, primary care appointment for prescription refills, outpatient surgery, and blood or lab work.

FSA: Use It or Lose It

Do you have a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) through your employer? If you do, remember that the funds from this account typically do not roll over year-to-year, so if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it! Check with your insurance provider to see what’s left of your funds so you can put your FSA to good use.

Receive Peace of Mind

In addition to some of the health insurance benefits you will receive by scheduling your procedure before the end of the year, you will also experience total peace of mind. What do we mean by this? Well, there’s nothing better than entering the New Year as a better, healthier version of yourself. At Specialty Surgical Center, we aim to provide patients with complete confidence in their care and well-being. When you feel good, you live even better, and it’s our mission to make your health the best its ever been.

If you need to schedule a procedure with our team, call the phone number listed below or visit our contact page. Once you fill out the form, an SSC representative will be with you shortly!

Specialty Surgical Center is located in Sparta, New Jersey, and our staff consists of board certified surgeons and anesthesiologists performing procedures in Orthopedics, Sports Medicine, Spinal Care, Podiatry, Urology, Pain Management, ENT, Hand Surgery, Lithotripsy, Brachytherapy, GYN and Laser Surgery.

For more information about Specialty Surgical Center, call 973-940-3166 or visit our Contact Page.

The advice and information contained in this article are for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace or counter a physician’s advice or judgment. Please always consult your physician before taking any advice learned here or in any other educational medical material.

Anyone having surgery will probably have a few out-of-pocket costs that aren’t covered by health insurance. But if you have a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), your costs may be quite a bit higher.

Because of that, it’s a good idea to do some planning before surgery so you can get a clearer picture of what your costs will be and make a plan for paying them.

The deductible, in health insurance terms, is the amount that you have to pay before the insurance company starts helping with the costs.

A high-deductible plan, according to the federal IRS definition, is a plan with deductibles of at least $1,350 for individuals and $2,700 for a family. Typically people with HDHPs can put some money aside tax-free in a health savings account (HSA) to be used for medical expenses not covered by their insurance.

(It’s also possible to have a plan with high deductibles that is not considered an HDHP by IRS standards, so you are not allowed to save tax-deductible money in an HSA.)

Even after paying your deductible, you may have coinsurance payments, or portions of the remaining amount that you have to pay. For instance, you may have to pay 20% or 30% of the bill after paying your deductible, depending on your insurance plan.

It can get complicated, but we’re happy to work with you before surgery to figure out what your costs are likely to be.

Here are some things you’ll want to find out:

• Is Specialty Surgical Center an in-network provider under your insurance plan? Your insurance company will pick up more of the costs for providers that are in their network.
• Are the surgeons, anesthesiologists, radiologists, physical therapists in-network providers?
• If any providers are not in-network, how much will this increase your costs?
• What does your insurance pay for the procedure or procedures you’ll be having? Ask for the CPT code for the procedure so you can check with your insurance company on whether the procedure is covered and how much they’ll pay for it.
• Are there coinsurance payments you will be responsible after you meet your deductible?

By answering all those questions, you should be able to get a good estimate of what your out-of-pocket costs are going to be. Now it’s time to think about how you’re going to pay for them.

If you have a health savings account, check your balance. It may be a financial lifesaver for you. If you don’t have a health savings account, do you have other savings you can tap? Or perhaps you can put the remaining bills on a low-interest credit card.

If you have no other options, providers will often let you set up a payment plan to pay off your bill in installments. You’ll need to make arrangements with each separate provider, but generally, they will work with you to find a solution. They’d much rather set up a payment plan up front than wait until your bill is months late.

Going through surgery and recovering from surgery are stressful enough, physically and emotionally. It’s best to avoid dealing with financial stress on top of that. Planning ahead can help you feel like you’ve got that part of the problem under control, so you can just focus on healing.

Specialty Surgical Center is located in Sparta, New Jersey, and our staff consists of board certified surgeons and anesthesiologists performing procedures in orthopedics, sports medicine, spinal care, podiatry, urology, pain management, ENT, hand surgery, lithotripsy, brachytherapy, GYN, and laser surgery.

For more information about Specialty Surgical Center, call 973-940-3166 or visit our Contact Page.

The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace or counter a physician’s advice or judgment. Please always consult your physician before taking any advice learned here or in any other educational medical material.