Schedule Your Imaging Appointments Before New Year's Eve, and Your 2024 Deductible

What is a deductible?

A health insurance deductible is the set amount you pay out of pocket for your healthcare before your insurance starts to pay. Once you meet your deductible, you pay a copayment or coinsurance for services covered by your healthcare policy. If you have a $500 deductible, you pay the first $500of your medical services before your insurance coverage starts to pay providers. Private health insurance plans and certain parts of Medicare have deductibles and other cost-sharing options.

How does the New Year affect my deductible?

The New Year is a perfect time to understand your insurance deductible better. Many health insurance plans follow a calendar year deductible schedule. Why is this important to know? The medical expenses you have paid towards your annual deductible reset on January 1 of each year. In other cases, a health insurance plan may follow a plan year schedule. A plan year schedule is when your medical expenses are paid towards your deductible and reset on the day your health insurance policy renews rather than January 1.Understanding your deductible program can help you avoid unexpected costs from a medical visit. Suppose you are planning to wait until after the holidays for an imaging study. In that case, you may want to reconsider and schedule in 2023 to benefit from this year's deductible. Appointments typically book up fast at year-end, so the sooner you schedule your MRI, PET/CT Scan, X-ray, Dexa Scan, Mammogram, Ultrasound, or CT scan, the better chance you will have success in securing an appointment before your deductible resets.

What does it mean when deductibles reset?

Understanding your out-of-pocket medical costs, including deductibles, is essential in managing your healthcare costs. You pay a deductible before the insurance company starts contributing to your medical bills. Read on to learn more about health insurance deductibles and how they affect your health care coverage.

An unexpected medical bill can quickly disturb anyone's day. Your health insurance plan outlines a deductible schedule that may be able to explain why you received an unexpected medical bill. Insurance deductibles directly affect how and when you should schedule your diagnostic imaging appointments. With the year-end months of November and December upon us, it is important to understand what a health insurance deductible reset means for you.

How can I prepare for a deductible reset?

Knowing that your deductible will reset may help you to plan your care. For example, if you need surgery, knowing how close you are to satisfying your deductible can help you decide when to schedule it.

 Suppose you have met or are close to meeting your current year deductible. Having related diagnostic tests and your surgery may make sense before the deductible resets. That way, you will have to pay less out of pocket than you'd have to pay if you waited until after the New Year. On the other hand, if you're not close to meeting your deductible, you may decide to wait until it resets.

 Contact Your Health Insurance For Questions and Confirmation

You can call your insurance company using the phone number that is likely on the back of your insurance card. 

Your insurance company may also have an app that specifies your plan coverage. Visit your plan's website to see if an app is offered.

Our Patients Are Our Passion

At Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging, you are family. We understand that there are many challenges in each of our lives, and the end of the year can be a crunch regarding financial planning. We hope our shared information will help you in your healthcare planning. To ensure your diagnostic imaging studies apply to this year's deductible, scheduling your appointment for an imaging study before January 1, 2024, is important. SDMI has eleven locations across Southern Nevada that offer convenient evening and weekend hours so you can complete your imaging study on time. If you are ready to schedule your appointment for a screening or advanced imaging study, please call to schedule your appointment at 702-732-6000.

Note: The information in this blog is generalized and is not legal advice. It is intended to supplement, not substitute for, the expertise and judgment of your insurance company.