Friday, October 16, 2009

Secrets to Lowering Healthcare Insurance Payments

Stay Fit

Comparison Shop

Do The Math

You must be healthy to get the cheapest premium. health care insurers will ask about your medical history before offering you an insurance policy. If you don't meet the insurance carrier's underwriting criteria you may have your premium increased or you may not be offered an insurance policy at all.

This may or may not be fair. However, this is the way that insurance works and in order to get the cheapest rate for the best policy, we must deal with the system that is currently in place. healthcare insurance companies are concerned about your chances of getting ill in the future. Your current healthcare status and your health care history greatly impact the probability of your having high or low medical expenses in the future.

Many factors that impact your Health and longevity are outside your control. But there are many that are within your control. Do what you can to make sure that you and your family stay healthy.

Of course there are many other benefits of living a longer healthier life. So if you smoke, please stop. If you don't have a regular exercise routine, please consider one.

Improving your level of health not only improves your odds of living a longer life, it improves your odds of avoiding a financial catastrophe. If you develop a medical condition that causes you to lose your job, you lose income. When you lose your job, you will probably be offered COBRA. COBRA Health insurance is usually more expensive than other plans, but this may be the only plan available; Health insurance companies may not want to insure you unless they are forced to do so. This raises your expenses. After your COBRA eligibility runs out you may be faced with buying a state-mandated policy that will cover your pre-existing condition that you can't afford or going without coverage. You may be both unemployable and uninsurable at this point. Any significant medical bill will ruin you.

Ccompare multiple plans

Many people fail to price shop and benefit shop. They will often take their COBRA option when they lose their job without looking at other alternatives. When their COBRA eligibility ends, they may take an individual policy from the same insurer without looking at other companies offerings. Shopping around for insurance is a key to lowering your costs.

Do The Math

Would you put a dollar on a bet where you could only get a dollar back if you won? How about betting me a dollar and only having the potential of getting 90 cents back? You're too smart to make a bet like that, but many people are making bad decisions about their medical insurance because they have never done the math are look askance at higher deductible plans.

A high deductible healthcare insurance policy may be your best option. However, you need to compare prices AND benefits to determine if this is the case for you. When comparing two Health insurance policies that have different deductibles but otherwise the same, determine your annual premium for both policies and compare them with the annual deductible. Make sure that the higher premium you might pay for the lower deductible policy is justified.

Getting the best policy possible at the most competitive price means being able to comparison shop for health insurance intelligently. You can't price shop and benefit shop very well if your choices are limited or nonexistent, so do what you can to stay healthy and to keep your family healthy. You can't look at many options intelligently unless you Do The Math and make sure that any extra premiums you pay for a low deductible policy are justified.

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