Your Explanation of Benefits (EOB), Explained

You found a doctor, made an appointment, received care, and picked up your prescriptions. A few weeks later, you get a letter or an email from Independence with a document that says, in all capital letters, “THIS IS NOT A BILL.” So if it’s not a bill, what is it?

Meet your EOB

Your Explanation of Benefits (EOB) — also called a Plan Activity Statement — breaks down the exact costs every time you receive care....
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On Your Behalf: Designating a Personal Health Representative

Depending on what type of access you grant them; a personal health representative can help you with a range of health care decisions.
Maintaining the privacy and control of your health care is important, but so is ensuring that decisions about your health are in capable hands in the event you can’t make them yourself. If you would like to give someone the authority to make medical decisions on your behalf or have access to your private health information,...
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5 Medicare Milestones You Should Know About

Medicare milestones
Medicare can be a challenge to understand and navigate. But planning well in advance of your Medicare eligibility (for many that’s your 65th birthday) can help you get every dollar in Medicare benefits. These five helpful Medicare milestones will aid you as you start planning for your 65th birthday. If you’re looking for even more information about eligibility,...
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How Long Can You Stay on Your Parent’s Health Insurance?

Can you stay on your parents’ health insurance if you’re in college? How about if you move out…or get married? We answer these questions and more.
One of the most helpful innovations of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the provision that allows dependents to remain on a parent or guardian’s health insurance plan until they turn 26. This helps young adults maintain continuous health coverage through the often unpredictable years after high school. But can you stay on your parent’s health plan if you’re in college?...
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Self-Employed? Health Insurance is Within Reach.

Thinking of making the leap to working for yourself? Working for yourself is rewarding, but not without its challenges. One of the biggest challenges, particularly if you’re used to getting health insurance through an employer, is choosing a high-quality, affordable health insurance plan for yourself. To make it easier, we put together a handy list of common questions about affordable health insurance for freelancers,...
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How to Get the Most From Your HMO Plan

A Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plan gives you access to a wide variety of doctors and hospitals in the Keystone Health Plan East network. Here’s how to get the most from your plan — and save money, too!

1. Choose a Primary Care Physician (PCP)

You are required to select an in-network PCP, or family doctor,...
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Fighting the Opioid Crisis: Embracing Care and Prevention

Pain management is serious business. Opioid medications — when given in the right dose and for the right length of time — provide significant relief from pain and can drastically improve a person’s quality of life. In recent years, however, our nation has been in the grips of an opioid epidemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,...
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Family doctor, Urgent Care, or ER?

If you think the ER is the only place to get medical attention quickly, think again. Unless it’s a true emergency, you may want to consider care at a retail clinic, urgent care center, or via telemedicine. It may save you time and money!
You’re cutting an avocado for dinner and you slice your finger. It’s Friday night and your sinuses are so congested, you don’t know how you’ll survive the weekend. Your daughter wakes up Saturday morning with pinkeye. When it’s a true emergency, the decision of where to get medical attention quickly is easy. You either call 911 or you get to the nearest emergency room (ER)....
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Medicare Advantage Users Guide: Getting Started

Whether we’re helping a new Independence Blue Cross Medicare member or a renewing one, my Customer Service team and I always take a few minutes to review the different steps they can take to help ensure they are getting the most from their health plan. For anyone we haven’t had a chance to speak with yet,...
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The Hazards of Hospitalization: Ways to Avoid Preventable Issues and Readmissions

Hospitalization
One of the best advances in medicine over the past 100 years is our ability to provide state-of-the-art technologic procedures and treatments that improve people’s lives and longevity. For some, this requires being admitted to the hospital. You may have the expectation that if you went into the hospital for surgery, a procedure, or treatment, you would improve enough to leave,...
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