Have you ever been at the doctor’s office, and they’ve asked you to sign off on a form with the strange acronym HIPPA right at the top? Did you sit there and scratch your head wondering what in the world it was?

According to the CDC, HIPPA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act which is a federal law that protects sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.

This type of information could be your birthday, address, social security number, name, gender, your clinical diagnosis, or your medical history.

While HIPPA is a very good thing set in place to protect you, it can be difficult to face when it comes to wanting to obtain health related information about a loved one you may be caring for. You can override this by requesting a HIPPA form from the provider’s office and having yourself and your loved one sign off on the releasing of their medical information to you. This will free you to talk to their doctor about treatment plans, their diagnosis, medication, and ask questions related to your loved one’s medical care.

If you have any questions related to HIPPA or would like to a group health insurance quote, give Clevenger Insurance a call today at 574-267-2181.

If you have ever gone to out of network doctor, you may already be familiar with the term ‘reasonable and customary’, and we’ll explain why.

Reasonable and customary is a term that the health insurance companies use to make sure that you are paying a reasonable and fair amount for your covered medical services. The health insurance companies render a large amount of information, take the data, and average out the numbers to make sure that what the provider is charging you is a fair amount based off your area and the services being rendered.

So, if you ever receive an EOB, or Explanation of Benefits, with the term ‘reasonable and customary’ on it, you can sleep well at night knowing that you are paying a fair, contracted amount for your medical services.

Now, here’s the catch: you are only going to receive reasonable and customary charges if you go to an in-network provider that is contracted with your health insurance carrier.

If you choose to see an out of network provider, that means that provider is not contracted with your health insurance company and can essentially charge you whatever they want! You will not receive reasonable and customary charges for your services and will most likely pay more out of pocket than if you were to go to an in-network provider.

Have questions? Give Clevenger Insurance a call today at 574-267-2181.