Desire Affordable Health Insurance? Here s How You Find It!
"Affordable health insurance" - it seems, especially today, those words just don't belong together in the same sentence. Health insurance premiums used to be somewhat manageable but now they account for the single biggest portion of living expenses for many people (no longer mortgage payments.) Some people who have conditions such as asthma or diabetes (or even a family history of a particular disease) have to pay more each month for their health insurance than their car and house payments combined.
It can be a real eye-opener when you are out looking for affordable health insurance. If you used to have your health insurance covered by your benefits package and you now have to cover them for your self, whatever your reason, you might be concerned that you can't afford the same level of coverage that you once had.
Affordable health insurance (not "cheap"), however, is definitely available... if you know how and where to look.
You're searching for affordable health insurance so, it's understood that you want the lowest cost per month to fit your budget. However, what's really even more important that price is the service record of the insurance company. Do they fight you over every single cot and picking thing when you make a claim or do they pay you quickly? Just as there is a car for just about any budget, there is also affordable health insurance. You may not be able to afford a "Cadillac" policy - but then you probably don't need all the frills anyway.
Nowadays, this little tool called "the internet" makes hunting for affordable health insurance much easier than it was ten years ago.
1. To submit claims to your insurance company, you no longer need a local agent. Today, there is no "middle man" anymore because your doctor or hospital bills your insurance company directly. This saves your insurance company money as they do not have to pay agent commissions and they pass a savings on to you between 8-12%.
2. With a simple internet search for "insurance companies", you'll easily find all of the top insurance companies. Most local agents can only quote you from the few companies that they represent. They may not offer you what is best for you financially or health-wise but only what they happen to have available.
3. Another benefit that stems from the internet is that insurance companies make every effort to be competitive. Why? Because they know that it's really easy for customers to find out what other companies are charging for the same service. To do a similar comparison, in the past you would have had to drive all over town to have ten meetings (or at least meet with ten different agents at your home) to get the best deal. I don't know about you but I never had that kind of time available.
4. You can save hours upon hours whenever you need to change your payment options, deductibles and coverage. Just hop online and fill out some forms rather than mailing it all to your local agent who often made mistakes since it wasn't as important to them as it is to you. Whew! What timesaver.
5. Charging to a credit card means you aren't going to forget a payment and be without insurance. Not only do most companies give you a discount for setting up "auto-pay" with your credit card but it also gives you another 30 days before you actually need to make a payment.
The key, however, to finding affordable health insurance is realizing that the purpose of any health insurance is to protect you from a major financial loss - not to protect you from spending small money on clinic visits and sliver removal. These small expenses may be cumbersome but they generally will not hurt you. Much more likely to destroy your family and you financially is the lung cancer you get diagnosed with just as your daughter is about to head off to college. These are the financially disastrous situations that health insurance prevents.
Keep in mind that for you, as in gambling, insurance is a hedge bet. The gamble is that you betting that you will need more money for your health than you are putting in. From the customer's POV, this is a good enough way to grasp the situation. But it's not really the way it works.
A lot of consumers think that insurance companies and casinos work the same way so we'll inspect it that way. Most people think that when they place a bet on their team that they are betting against the casino. This is not true. But what actually happens is this: they are betting against people that placed bets for the other team. The casino simply sets the lines to balance the action on both sides and collect a small fee called "the vig".
Much the same, the insurance company is not betting against you when you purchase insurance. Actually, insurance companies determine the average cost per person by averaging the cost of a large yet similar group. Next, they charge everyone in the group the same price with the knowledge that they will pay less money to some in the group and more money to others but averaging the same amount of money to each person over time. Then they simply tack on their fee (like the casino's vig) for paying everyone when the money is needed for health situations. For the most part, you are betting that you are going to need more money for your health care than the average person in the group will need. This is what the insurance industry calls the "law of large numbers" and is what really makes affordable health insurance possible.
Last but not least (in fact most importantly), do not think that "cheap" and "affordable" are synonymous. Toyota Camry = Affordable. Yugo = Cheap. And while there is some truth to "You get what you pay for," when you purchase a $60,000 Lexus instead of a $30,000 Toyota, you are not getting $30,000 more in actual car. Actually, the more and more you spend, the less and less you get for your money. The same thing happens with health insurance.
The opposite is also true though. One can get from point A to point B by driving a Yugo but not reliably. Should you rely on a crappy car to get you to work if it breaks down all the time? You could get fired for being late or not showing up, right? If you need to get to a really important sales meeting... would you show up in a Yugo? I don't know about you but I will never buy anything from somebody driving a Yugo (unless I'm travelling in Eastern Europe.) I'm not a snob but I don't want to lose money by being cheap!
Keeping all of this in mind, I seriously suggest that you do not consider any company that a rating less than A at the ratings companies such as Standard & Poors (standardandpoors.com) and AM Best (ambest.com). The least expensive policy from a highly rated insurance company is, 9 times out of 10, better than the most expensive policy from a lower rated company. Sure, you will probably have to pay a little more to go with the better company but it is almost certainly the better deal and the best choice. Because if the company won't pay you (and in a timely fashion) when you need the money then what good is it? None!
To conclude, it is much easier than people believe to find affordable health insurance.
Discover affordable health insurance by taking a little more risk with higher deductibles, spending time online to compare ten different insurance companies and getting rid of coverage that you will probably not need (such as maternity if you are not in a relationship that would lead to pregnancy.)
Ed Brancheau, The Insurance Egghead, assists individuals, families and businesses find affordable health insurance. Visit his website, The Insurance Egghead, for tons of free advice and guides about health, dental, vision, accident and life insurance.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/
Added: March 21, 2008
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