Discount Health Insurance – The Lowdown

What’s the deal with discount health insurance? Is it even available?

Quick answer: No.

Longer answer: No and maybe. Here’s the deal. Health insurance companies are regulated in certain ways that prevent them from offering promotions and discounts except in certain cases. As far as I can see, discounts are only available to students enrolled for 9 credits. “Discounts” for people other than students need to be handled a little bit differently. I’ll explain.

Individual insurance companies do change their pricing all the time due to fluctuating risk factors. So, if you are going to wait a couple of months (not highly recommended by most) to decide on a health insurance plan, you may see the prices fluctuate for the same policy. If the price goes down, that’s kind of like a discount.

The next best thing to do is to compare apples-to-apples plans on a reputable site. It is definitely possible for company ABC to have the exact same plan benefits for 50% of the monthly premium price of company XYZ. So don’t just go to a company website to shop, go to a comparison website.

Click Here To Compare The Cheapest Policies Available

Then, you’ll want to focus on reducing the premium by reducing the risk for the insurance company. I know that sounds a little backward, but if you’re transferring your risk to them, they’re going to charge you. The absolute biggest factor in price of plan (besides variables you can’t control at the present, like your age and health condition), is the deductible amount. This is the amount that you would need to spend on a yearly basis before your insurer paid out any benefits. If you raise the amount of your deductible, you will pay significantly less.

Even though this may seem like a less than ideal option, there can be some benefits to raising your deductible. For one, if you don’t spend much on medical expenses, then the high deductible will actually most likely save you a bunch of money in the long run. Also, if you pick a deductible over $1300 in 2010 (or $2600 for families), you can be eligible for a HSA (health savings account), if the plan allows it. If you are thinking of saving for retirement and you think you may also need those funds for health reasons, an HSA can be a perfect option for you.

You can also reduce the amount of your monthly by leaving out insurance that you won’t be using, like alternative care, psychiatric care, or pregnancy care. Of course, if you do need those things, leave them in and save money. But if you don’t, concentrate on stripping your plan down so you don’t waste money.

Another good way to save is to pick an HMO over a PPO or POS. Yes, if you enjoy the flexibility of picking from a much larger network of doctors and loathe the idea of getting a referal for a specialist (as I do, mostly because it costs me money), then go with a PPO. Otherwise, save some money and grab an HMO.

Click Here To See Price Differences Between Health Insurance Plans

Ultimately, like I said, getting “discount health insurance” is not possible unless you are a student. But that doesn’t mean you need to pay through the roof for your policy. If you ARE a student, I recommend checking out my post on the cheapest student health insurance. Good luck everybody!