In these days of high cost insurance plans, there are real ways to reduce your health care costs without shaving needed coverage. There are some health insurance benefits that are an excellent value based on certain needs, and others that are overpriced for the benefits you receive. None of us have the same requirements, so a bit of legwork and research will be required to determine your own specific needs. But the benefit of saving potentially hundreds of dollars per year cannot be overlooked in this time of inflated health care costs. Here are some things you can do to craft the best plan for you:
You can increase your deductible, the amount you have to pay each year before your plan begins paying. If you are like many of us, you don’t have many doctor visits per year. Increasing your deductible could easily save you hundreds per year. Insurance industry insiders have revealed that insurers have a rating system which, strangely enough, reduces premiums by the same amount of a deductible increase. That is, if you increase your deductible to $1000 from $500, your rates could possibly go down by $500 or more.
Another way to save on premiums is to add a doctor visit copayment with a limited visit addendum. Copayments are the amounts you have to pay each time you go to the doctor, usually between $15 and $40. Without a copay you have to pay the entire amount of each visit until your yearly deductible amount is reached. If you think you’ll be having several doctor’s visits, then a copay may be to your advantage. And if you set a limit on the number of covered office visits, you’ll come out ahead and save some money.
Most plans today are either PPO or HMO, with both offering coverage within a pre-determined network of doctors and medical caregivers. PPO’s often allow a wider spectrum of specialists while HMO’s require you to choose a primary doctor. If you require a visit to a specialist under a HMO plan, you won’t be covered unless referred by your doctor. Selecting an HMO will reduce your coverage, but the cost to you will be less.
Getting re-underwritten is the best kept secret in lowering your insurance costs. Your insurance premiums are based on a process called underwriting, in which health insurance carriers consider such things as the status of your health and your age in order to estimate the level of risk you provide to them. Riskier people may cost the insurance companies more, so their premiums will be more. However, most carriers also base your premiums on the other policyholders they insure, by putting you into “pools”. For example, one insurance company will include 5 different plans and 100 policyholders in one pool. If a certain number in the pool make claims, then the rates go up for everyone in the pool. Also, as pools age, they tend to get unhealthier as years go on, so rates for the pool can regularly go up. So by switching insurance plans or companies or both, you can effectively be re-underwritten.
The problem with that is that if a large amount of the pool members get ill, then your premiums go up even if you have been healthy as a horse. So it is recommended by industry insiders that changing policies each year or changing carriers each year or both will likely save you money. Navigating your way through the complicated world of the insurance industry doesn’t have to be difficult but in order to be successful, you will have to put some effort into it.
It may seem difficult to find cheap health insurance, now a days, however there is a solutions. Log onto www.individualhealthquotes.com and you can obtain health insurance quotes from numerous companies at one time.
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