Tips to find cheap Health Insurance
No one wants to spend a lot of money on health insurance, so in order to find the best rates, you have to shop around a lot. The internet gives you the best access to hundreds of health insurance quotes from different providers across America. Every health insurer has different guidelines they use under the underwriting process, so some may charge more than others. Online health insurance quotes are available for free on the internet. Comparison websites like LIQ are available to give you multiple quotes from different providers at once. You will get a side-by-side glance of the quotes each of the providers give you, now all that is left is for you to do is pick the insurer that you want to buy a premium from. In order to get your free health insurance quotes, you will need certain information, such as your age, gender, smoking status, type of coverage desired and whether you’re a student.
The Underwriting Process
After you receive your quotes from LIQ, you will have to search through the results to see which of the insurers you’d like to get a premium from. Continuing on to the underwriting process directly with the health insurance provider doesn’t obligate you to purchase a premium from them. You will need to go through the underwriting process in order to get an actual quote. You will be asked more details about the individuals that are seeking coverage. You will need to have information on current health, medical history and family medical background. The answers the insurer gets to these questions will determine your final quote. If you have pre-existing health conditions or a history of bad medical health, you will see your premium rate will be higher than the quote that you received on LIQ. Each ailment has its own category and risk level. So just because you have a history of getting a lot of colds won’t put your premium rate as high as someone’s that has cancer or disease.
Some of the illnesses that are considered red flags for health insurance companies include mental health issues, obesity and heart problems. You may not be asked these questions during the process of retrieving your quote, but you will need to disclose this info during the underwriting process when you’re dealing directly with the health insurance agency. The cheapest health insurance plans exclude health conditions that were pre-existing. If you had a one-time illness, you can also exclude that if it should ever arise again in the future. Doing so will allow your health insurance rates to be lowered. If any of the health conditions that have been excluded come about again, you won’t receive coverage for the medical expenses associated with them.
Choosing Deductibles
Various health insurance plans require you to pay an annual deductible before you’re able to receive benefits. During the process of choosing the deductibles, you will need to determine how much you’re willing to spend out of your own pocket for medical expenses. The higher you place your deductibles, the lower your premium rate will be, but be careful. A lot of people fall for this trap and end up placing their deductibles so high that they’re unable to afford to pay them. The fee-for-service option requires the insured to pay an annual deductible. Most health insurers require the insured to pa y $250 per person annually before receiving benefits for medical expenses.
Managed Care
The cheapest health insurance plans out there are from the managed health organizations. HMOs, PPOs and POSs are all available for individuals to purchase for themselves and their families. The HMO offers a low monthly premium — this is a prepaid health insurance policy that offers preventive care coverage. You only have to pay a minimal amount for the services received. The PPO is a bit more flexible than the HMO — you get to choose your own primary care physician from a network of providers. Using an out-of-network provider would cause you to pay more on the medical bills. Only select services have any coverage at all. Last, the POS, is available and is the most flexible of the managed care organization plans. With it, you are referred to other physicians inside and outside of the network by your primary care physician. The services you receive from the referrals are partially or fully covered under the plan. Then for the services received by an out-of-network that you refer yourself to requires you to pay coinsurance for services.
You can also find other cheap products and services on Groupon. Some of the merchants there include Weight Watchers, Victoria’s Secret and 1-800-Flowers.
