'Tis the Season to Examine Your Insurance Policies

Many Americans are eagerly watching the calendar as 2020 charges towards its inevitable end. This year has presented all sorts of challenges to individuals and families across the country, and most Illinoisians have met with the same stressors. It has never before been made so abundantly clear that preparing for the worst with personal insurance is the absolute best decision one can make to preserve the health, finances, and lifestyle of themselves and their loved ones. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught many harsh lessons since its arrival in Illinois, with over 340,000 cases having been identified within our borders. Our state has lost almost 10,000 of its people, and we have sadly learned that access to high-quality care—along with strong health coverage—quite literally meant the difference between life and death since the start of the crisis. While we mourn those we’ve lost and continue to care for those who have been severely affected by the virus, the open-enrollment months of November and December are the ones that will allow most southern Illinois residents to put these recent hard-won lessons to their best use. 

OPEN ENROLLMENT 

This is the time of year when almost all commercial health insurance carriers enter into a season referred to as “open enrollment,” a period of time during which subscribers and members can reexamine their coverage specifics, and, most importantly, make any changes that may be deemed necessary. This can include everything from adding services or additional lines of coverage, adding additional family members to a plan, and ensuring that a catastrophic event in one’s life will not turn that whole life into an unending catastrophe. Open enrollment periods have hard and fast deadlines. Failing to be informed of the limitations and deadlines will result in an inability to make any changes or enrollments for the upcoming year with very few exceptions so now is the time to get in touch with your dedicated Oliver & Associates agent to have a discussion about how to best protect yourself and your family. DIY is a great option for many tasks, but a review of your coverage is best handled by a southern Illinois health insurance expert.

WHAT IF I MISS THE OPEN ENROLLMENT PERIOD? 

If 2020 has taught us one lesson, it’s that curveballs will come – usually at the worst possible time. So it’s almost not surprising that many people tend to leave those huge mailer packets of benefits info at the bottom of the “To Do” pile while tending to other issues. Though common, it is a mistake. There are strict limitations in place that mandate what can be done to make changes over the course of the year once open enrollment has ended; unfortunately, being too busy with other irons in the fire does not merit an exception to those rules with any carrier. In almost all cases, only a qualifying life event like a birth, death, marriage, or divorce will be counted as a reason to make changes, but even these allowances do not allow for the full and ideal option to change, increase, or update the scope of specific plan tenets.

YOUR SOUTHERN ILLINOIS INSURANCE COMPANY

Oliver & Associates has been cultivating longstanding relationships with southern Illinois residents since 1980. Contact us today to start the process of annual examination of benefits, find out if you are entitled to (or in need of) additional coverage, or if it is recommended that you make specific changes to your plan.