Your Midyear Health To-Do List
Well-organised women will like the idea of scheduling periodic check-ups of their health maintenance. It’s easy! Just think June/July, and pretty soon you’ll have a routine worked out that will help you plan your healthy lifestyle as well as your finances for the coming six months.
In particular, because your financial planning can impact the health care decisions you make, it’s important to stay on top of things.
Mid-Year Health To-Do #1 – Check Health Care Coverage
Being prepared for an open-enrolment season before it starts can put you at an advantage. Preparation can help you come up with a more accurate cost estimate than working it out quickly at the last minute. The chances are that you will have spent rather more carelessly in the first half of the year compared to what you will in the next half.
You are most likely to decrease your spending after mid-year because the limits of your annual budget are fast becoming real, and there are still some financial goals you’re determined to achieve by year-end.
Therefore, checking your coverage in mid-year means just doubling your costs to estimate a full year’s spend. Take your time at mid-year to carefully calculate your medical cost estimate. Don’t forget to include prescription medicine costs.
Also, if you can, try to find out which insurance plans will be accepted next year by your doctor. Taking all these measures beforehand will increase the chances of you choosing the best option for the following year.
Mid-Year Health To-Do #2 – Calculate HSA and FSA
HSA is your health savings account, and FSA is your flexible spending account. The money in these accounts springs into action to help you pay out-of-pocket healthcare expenses like co-pays. Many people are not keen on having an FSA due to the inability to roll over to the following year (unlike an HSA).
Despite this concern, however, everyone is encouraged to sign up for an FSA if it is available to them. You just have to calculate the optimal level of money you need in it and make careful decisions. For instance, if you see that your current FAS is all used up by mid-year, you probably need to increase your deposit amount for the following year.
Impact Of Your Health On Your Finances – Be Healthy and Wealthy
If you find that you still have a lot of money in your account at mid-year, simply aim to use up those funds by the end of the year and decrease your deposits slightly for the following year. Even though HSA does roll over, it is still wise to check its balance at mid-year. Calculate your HSA by considering the total yearly contribution based on your health coverage level first.
Then multiply this by the number of months in a year you qualify and divide the final number by twelve. These steps are all necessary because eligibilities can often change in mid-year due to unforeseen reasons. Going through this drill will keep you aware of your eligibility status.
Mid-Year Health To-Do #3 – Check Deductible Expenses
Checking deductible health expenses at mid-year is specifically important if you had a lot of medical expenses earlier in the year. IRS recommends exceeding your medical costs by ten percent of your adjusted deductible total income. You should go through this checking procedure.
If you reach the threshold of expense deduction, be sure to go through your calculation again with your accountant. This is necessary so that you can omit any of the deductions that may not be applicable, as transportation costs for going to a hospital.
Mid-Year Health To-Do #4 – Plan to Save for Medical Expenses
Sudden catastrophic medical emergencies can drain away a lot of money within a short period. Still, what’s important is getting high-quality treatment to enable the continuation of a happy and healthy lifestyle. Therefore, planning early on so that you can tackle medical emergencies is essential.
You don’t want to find yourself in a situation of urgency demanding a huge sum of money that you don’t have at your disposal.
One way to prepare for this eventuality is to plan ahead by discussing with your financial professional how he or she can help you arrange for a significant amount of money so that it’s available to you should you need it quickly and unexpectedly.
Mid-Year Health To-Do #5 – Create Personal Healthcare Fact File
This is critical for your family’s health as well as your own. Access to your medical history might be essential if an emergency health-related condition arises for your family or yourself. Having this history available in an organised dossier will make it easier to complete all the formal documentation that one is often required to file in an emergency.
Formal documents will need some details regarding your health. These features may include contact details for all your health professionals, information on all of your eligible health insurance policies, policy numbers of relevant insurances, FSA and/or HSA information, your will and/or advance health care directives, a list of your allergies and also of your regular medications.
It is crucial that you update and keep a copy of all of these details every mid-year to ensure your safety. Distribute copies of this information to your close family members or any other people you completely trust. This is especially important for individuals who travel a lot or are living far away from their families and relatives.
