The Three Things That Can Save You Money—and Misery—on Your Benefits

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The best way to make sure your doctors are still covered under your health insurance plan? Pick up the phone and call them. Each year, many workers learn the hard way that solely relying on your insurance provider’s online search tool to check on coverage during open enrollment doesn’t work. Those websites aren’t always up-to-date, benefits professionals caution.

Millions of employees are gearing up for their companies’ open enrollment period right now, and many of them will spend less time on it than they do commuting one way to work. Roughly two-thirds of benefits-eligible employees spend 30 minutes or less reviewing information during this period, according to survey data from financial-services company Voya Financial. That’s a mistake, especially this year with costs for employer health coverage expected to jump.

In addition to rising costs, there are also coverage changes that can vary year to year on the same plan. “It’s confusing. It’s complicated.

But it’s really important," says Nate Black, vice president of health solutions product at Voya. Esther Bergdahl, a 39-year-old freelance writer in Chicago, says she checked her insurance provider’s website to ensure her therapist was still covered during the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment last fall. There was a bright green check mark next to the words “in-network." Then, in January, she got a notification from her insurance company: Her claim had been denied.

It took months of back and forth to figure out the discrepancy, Bergdahl says. The therapist had previously been fully covered under the same plan, but she now owes a $15 copay per visit. Make sure your doctors and drugs are still covered The first mistake most people make is assuming their healthcare plan