Open enrollment season is here and the stress of picking the right plan for you could sometimes get overwhelming. Rosalyn Glenn, financial advisor with Prudential, joined Cheddar News to discuss what to know and understand about selecting your benefits to cover your medical needs and conditions, if any.

<div class="block">Open enrollment season is here and the stress of picking the right plan for you could sometimes get overwhelming. Rosalyn Glenn, financial advisor with Prudential, joined Cheddar News to discuss what to know and understand about selecting your benefits to cover your medical needs and conditions, if any.</div>

Stretching Your Dollar

Stretching Your Dollar: What to Know About Open Enrollment and Prescription Drugs

Well, open enrollment is currently happening, which is why over the past few weeks when we've been discussing what you should know about health insurance. And today we're gonna talk about how to save money on prescriptions. I'm joined by Rosalind Glenn, a financial planner from Prudential Financial uh Rosalind, welcome. Thank you for having me. Glad to be here with you, Kristen. We're happy to have you. So, first off, what should people know before open enrollment ends? So they should take open enrollment very seriously, right? They should be intentional about understanding the benefits that are available to them from their employer, from health care, dental care, vision care um to all of the other types, retirement planning. Um and any other types of uh benefits, flexible spending accounts, wellness programs. They should be very intentional about selecting those options because it has financial uh benefits to them. Is there anything people need to know when it comes to prescription preferences if they are utilizing open enrollment? Absolutely. The type of health insurance plan that you select um to cover your medical needs and conditions, you should be clear about what those are because perhaps you can use a high deductible plan if you are generally healthy and don't have medical expenses beyond the annual physicals and preventive screenings. Um, a high deductible plan would be very beneficial. On the other hand, if you have conditions, um you may look at some other type of plan, one of the PPO plans. Um they may be a better option because they provide lower deductibles and lower out of pocket maximum. And so your prescriptions will be determined based on or the cost of that will be covered in your prescriptions will be determined based on the type of plan that you select. So it will be really important to be clear about that if you do have a lot of prescriptions, do you think that it's wise to go with the premium plan, not a high deductible plan if you are, if you're not, well, and you have, you go to the doctor a lot, then a high deductible plan is not beneficial for you. Um because you could end up paying more out of pocket for those costs. And so using one of the other types of plans would be in your better interest if you have more medical visits and you have um more um symptoms that, that you're trying to, to take care of more health care issues that you're trying to take care of. Let's say you do have an HS A though. You, you don't decide to do the premium plan. Um but you do find that during the year you, you do need prescriptions, you aren't feeling well and you do have an HS A. What's the benefit of an HS A for your prescriptions? So you can use that health savings account in order to be able to cover the cost of those prescriptions. Some companies will give you a contribution towards your health savings account and you yourself are able to contribute to a health savings account to help pay for any kind of medical expenses. So certainly prescriptions are one of those things that you will be able to pay for using your health savings account. Are there any other apps that you can use to save on? What can be very pricey drug costs? Not familiar with any apps, but there are some other um like uh good, good, good Rx that are out there. So there are some other types of um discount programs that you can use. Um You can also look at buying generic drugs to kind of help you pay for those costs. Um Search for copay coupons um and some patient assistance programs that may be offered by the pharmaceutical companies that will help you pay for those prescriptions as well. Any other ways to save on prescriptions even really to kind of budget for them. Uh You might have some fixed costs going into the year but even kind of a ballpark maybe of what you should expect to pay these days. So Absolutely. Um, just being intentional about giving your money an assignment and telling your money what you want to do for you, right. Um, you gotta have a plan for your money and saving is critical to having a financial, sound, a sound financial plan. And so when we're looking at paying for health care costs, using a health savings account, because you can carry that with you as opposed to a flexible spending account that you have to use um before the end of the year. So understanding all of those things, um and putting them those in place um can help you save in the long run on prescription drugs. Roslyn. Any last tips for viewers the weekend might be a good time. Maybe then for them to research up on some of the options out there. Absolutely be intentional about reviewing all of the benefits that are available to you. Um Often times they can complement your overall financial well being. Um and companies offer um you know, different uh benefits through your employee assistance programs that will help you um from a financial standpoint. So being intentional about it is what I would say as the, as the last word of, of encouragement, Rosalind Glenn. Thank you so much for joining.