Individual Health Insurance: Get Quick Quotes with Tips for Smart Buying!Looking for cheap health insurance that really is major medical coverage? With a little inquiry on your part, we help make it possible to locate affordable, individual health insurance. You can obtain individual health insurance quotes from top companies simply by completing our interview form. Your input will generate proposals for affordable coverage based on the criteria you choose to provide. Usually, your quotes will arrive within just a day or two, but it is also good to educate yourself on the possible variations of health insurance. To this end, you can peruse our wealth of informational articles. You will probably see lots of terms that are unfamiliar. For example, do you understand the concept of long term
care insurance? How do group and individual
medical coverage differ from each other? Would a catastrophic plan or a
health savings account serve your family best? Have you ever considered true income
replacement disability insurance? Most agents are ethical and will do their best to meet your needs, but at the same time they are trying to make a living. Don’t assume that they will think of all the things you might not understand in any given policy. Educate yourself as to what you don’t know. Our goal is to assist you in finding the best coverage for the lowest rates. Cost and coverage are important, but don’t just settle for “cheap” without making sure you actually have something that will pay the bills. Insurance rates are generally regulated by the Department of Insurance in each state. Consequently the variations are often based on how healthy you are and on your age. Real major medical insurance may be no more than $20 or $30 different from one company to another. We make every effort to include only companies that have a history of solid claims payment, fair treatment of clients, and reasonable prices. Complete the easy online interview, and your information will be matched with companies in your area that have the ability to satisfy your needs. Finding Individual Health Insurance When looking for health insurance, you want to be alert for actual “insurance” usually referring to major medical insurance that simply pays your doctor or hospital based on reasonable and customary charges, versus “health care plans” that might do nothing more than send you a set reimbursement after you have received care. Such plans may send you as little as $50.00 a day if you have to be in the hospital, while others may do nothing more than “negotiate a discount” with your provider. The latter may charge you a monthly fee in return for promising you a 60% or more discount on your health care. Before purchasing any such discount plan, contact your hospital or doctor to see if they have ever heard of the company and if they do in fact honor these promised discounts. Leaving Group Insurance People who work for large companies usually have group insurance and are used to paying a small premium. At least it seems small when you begin comparing it with individual insurance. Most people do not realize that the employer is paying a much larger portion of the cost or that the premium paid for the group insurance is based on the average age of the employees. Group insurance companies cannot change their rates based on usage or on gender, and they can’t drop anyone or increase rates on an individual as a result of a major illness. Prior conditions generally do not count as long as you had insurance at your previous employer. Since the company is paying most of the premium, they get to choose the level of coverage as well as the deductibles and copays you will be responsible for. They can also choose the type of insurance they will provide, such as HMO rather than a fee for service plan. Sometimes dental and vision are included although an extra premium may be passed on to you, and prescription drugs are generally included. When you leave the group plan, all of these conveniences that you took for granted will change. Individual Insurance Offers Fewer Guarantees Individual insurance is completely different from Group Health Insurance. The premiums will be higher because you will be paying all of the premium rather than an employee share. The usage history in a given state can also mean that one state can have very high premiums for the same insurance that is offered at a lower premium elsewhere. A good agent will know how to explore several companies to see what is available for you. Most importantly, and this is where consumer frustration is the most pronounced, if you have chronic health conditions, you can be denied coverage regardless of the number of years during which you had continuous coverage on the job. The government itself has created laws which allow a company to avoid “adverse risk,” meaning that if you have or have had certain ailments, it is highly likely that you will need expensive care at some point in the future. Any company anywhere is allowed to refuse to provide individual coverage under such circumstances. Consequently, if you are with a group and have had any major health issue for which you receive continued monitoring or advice, you need to research your options very carefully before leaving the group. Additionally, under a private insurer, your premiums can be dramatically increased, sometimes every few months, if chronic conditions develop in the future. It is these types of perceived abuses that have motivated many uninsured Americans to call for health care reform. Unfortunately, the problems in today’s health insurance market were created by the government itself and will not be fixed with socialized medicine. Regardless of the difficulties, a good agent will work hard find a solution for you. It could mean taking an HMO or PPO or even accepting an exclusion for a certain condition. Work with an agent who will find out prior to submitting an application whether a company will turn down certain conditions. Otherwise, the Medical Information Bureau which is available to other companies, will be notified, making the search for coverage even more challenging. Additional Tid Bits
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