There are certain deadlines you don’t want to miss. While the due date on a library book can be smoothed away by paying a small fee, missing the due date connected to your health insurance plan has some pretty serious repercussions. Every month you are required to pay your premium. And if you miss that payment or there isn’t enough money in your account for the payment to go through, health insurance companies are required by law to cancel your plan (after a certain number of days pass). Here’s the process: As soon as you miss a payment, your Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan or Blue Care Network plan could immediately become inactive, meaning you might be responsible for any health care services that happen. Once you make up for the missed payment, your coverage will start back up again. But if you let too much time go by (between 30 and 90 days, depending on where you signed up for the plan and whether or not you’re eligible for the Advanced Premium Tax Credit), your plan will be canceled. Remember, you may not be eligible to sign up for another plan until the next open enrollment period or if you qualify for a special enrollment period. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there are ways to make sure you never miss a payment:
- Enroll in automatic payments. If you have an individual or family health care plan through Blue Cross, you can have your monthly premium payments automatically deducted from your personal checking or savings account or credit card. This means no worrying about due dates or missing a payment. Head here to get started.
- Set a calendar reminder. If you don’t want to have automatic payments, set a monthly alarm that will tell you a few days before your deadline that you need to make a payment.
- Loop in a family member. If you have a spouse or older child also covered on your plan, ask them to also set a reminder about the payment deadlines as a backup.
At Blue Cross, we want to see members healthy, happy and covered for life. Paying your premium on time is the first step to making that happen. Want to learn more about paying your monthly premium and other financial logistics of the health care system? Keep reading:
- FAQ Friday: Paying Your Bill, Activating Your Insurance
- Do You Qualify for Help Paying for Health Insurance?
- How Are Health Insurance Rates Determined?
Photo credit: sidkid
