Reducing Medical Insurance Premiums
by Alston Ballkcom
The 3 keys to reducing your health insurance premiums are: Reduce Your
Health Risks - Look At Many Options - Compare Prices And Benefits
You must not be in in a risk category if you want to get the best price.
healthcare insurers will ask about your health history before offering you
a medical 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 a health 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 least expensive rate for the best policy, we must
deal with the system that is currently in place. Health insurance carriers
are concerned about your chances of getting ill in the future. Your
current Health status and your healthcare history greatly impact the
probability of your having high or low Health expenses in the future.
Many factors that impact your healthcare 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; medical care insurers 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.
Shop Around
Many people fail to comparison shop for health insurance. 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 Health insurance because they
have never done the math are look askance at higher deductible plans.
A high deductible medical care 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 care 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 price shop and benefit shop intelligently. You can't compare
multiple policies 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
Shop Around intelligently unless you calculate the costs and make sure
that any extra money you pay for a low deductible policy are justified.
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Alston J. Balkcom has been a Connecticut insurance agent since 1985. His
practice primarily involves helping Connecticut residents find health
insurance. His focus is on those who do not qualify for health insurance
through their employers. He helps his clients find Connecticut individual
health insurance.
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