The holiday season can be the most stressful time of year in the best of years with its office parties and gatherings with friends and family, in addition to extra shopping, holiday festivities and dining out. This year, we can add the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic to the mix and, with that said, it’s time to get creative and change things up in order to stay healthy and enjoy this time of year.

Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) date back to 1980 when the first PPO was organized to provide contracted rate medical care to a health plan. For providing “steerage” toward the medical providers in the PPO network, the providers granted discounted rates for their services to the health plan.

Over the years, PPOs have changed and morphed into multiple variations, but the end result is the same – health plan members are steered toward PPO providers for their medical care and given favorable discounted rates.

The advantage of this type of arrangement is very obvious – it’s price.

During the height of the pandemic, telehealth visits accounted for 69% of all provider visits, according to national data from Epic Health Research Network. Although that number has dropped to 21%, that is still higher than before the pandemic when telehealth only accounted for less than 1% of all provider usage.

Having health insurance is one of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones. We insure our cars, home and other material items, so why would you decide to put yourself last? Car or home repairs can be very costly, but have you thought about what it would cost to fix YOU if something went wrong? Did you know that in 2020, the average cost to treat a concussion in an emergency room is $18,454?