If you need a knee walker, you would probably want to check and see if your insurance carrier can help with coverage. You may think it will be as easy as picking up the phone and dialing your provider, but you may find that there is some confusing language involved. This is why it helps to speak the essential medical lingo. Once you understand the terminology, you can understand exactly what your insurance representative is saying, instead of scratching your head and wondering if you need a master’s degree in health administration to get a grip of the information.
With this is mind, here’s the essential lingo you need to know to determine if your insurance can cover your knee walker:
Deductible: This is the fixed amount of money that you’ll need to pay before your insurance will reimburse your expenses. Your deductible may apply to your knee walker purchase, so double-check to see what your deductible may be.
Co-Insurance: This is the amount of money you’ll have to pay after you’ve met the deductible. If you have a zero or low deductible, this will be immediately enacted.
Co-Pay: This is the amount of money that you’ll need to pay for a service that your insurance will partially cover. This usually applies to seeing specialists, getting prescriptions, and going to the hospital. You may also discover that your knee walker will require a co-pay, so be sure to ask an insurance representative what your co-pay would be.
Out of Pocket: This is the amount of money that you’ll be required to pay each year before your insurance will cover your health care services.
In-Network / Out-of-Network: The restrictions that your insurance places on where you can go to obtain services. In-Network means you can only use service providers and vendors selected by the insurance carrier or already on their list. Out-of-Network gives you a choice to choose any service provider or vendor, but coverage will vary and it is advisable to first speak with your insurance carrier.
Once you can speak the insurance lingo, you may be delighted it takes no time to discover that your knee walker may be covered by your health insurance.
Feel free to give Knee Walker Central a call to learn more about how we can help you with insurance reimbursement.