Hello everybody… I’m here to write some tips on buying individual health insurance that I think will be very helpful. If you’re looking for more tips, check out some of my other posts.

*Note: This is a review. Click Here To Get A Quote For Individual Health Insurance

If you’re reading this blog, it’s probably because you are looking to buy health insurance coverage and you’re wondering the best way to go about doing it. As with any other insurance product, the major concerns are lowest price (or highest value), best benefits offerings, and best claims service. I am going to take these into account when I give you my tips below. See my “definitions” if you’re confused about some of the terms I use.

Tip #1: What do you need health insurance for?

It might sound like an obvious question, but think about it. Now that you’re not tied to a group plan, you have some options. There are many options in individual insurance plans, so take advantage and choose wisely. Answer these questions:

How often do you go to for regular scheduled “check-ups”? If not often, do you need a low copay?

Do you like to go the emergency room “just incase”? Get a plan that cover it at lower costs.

Tip #2: Be realistic based on what you can pay. Answer these:

How much do you spend per year on insurance, on average? If you said, “a lot,” then go for a lower deductible, right?

If you needed $100,000 surgery, could you afford a $30,000 hospital bill? If not, 30% co-insurance may not be appropriate for you. Go for a lower % co-insurance, perhaps 0%. Same concept applies for your deductible. If you couldn’t put up your $5000 deductible to get your insurance company to cover the claim, consider paying a higher monthly price to bring your deductible down to a manageable level.

Tip #3: Know what you like and what you will pay extra for. Answer these:

Are you happy with any doctor or do you need to pick the one that you like? If you’re happy with anyone, save money with an HMO. If not, spend a little more on a PPO. Or explore the benefits/drawbacks of POS plans.

Do you want your mental health and physical therapy physicians to be covered? You might get some bang for your buck in this area, depending on the coverage that’s offered.

Click Here To Start Looking At Health Insurance Options

So, down to brass tax: Price. As in, how do you get the lowest price?

Well, the company “Lending Tree” has a slogan that goes something like this: “When companies compete, you win.” Same concept here – just compare quotes on a site that has a reputation for getting the lowest quotes from all the different companies. As you might be able to tell, I like ehealthinsurance.com (they use the least paper!). They always have the lowest apples-to-apples comparison quotes and also provide the biggest selection. Another good feature is showing the health insurance plans that sell the best. And unlike many other sites that I don’t like, when you apply for a plan and they send you the paperwork, it’s actually at the stated price. A couple of years ago, I got a great PPO plan from ehealthinsurance for $42 a month!

Originally when you search, you’ll be given a lot of options. Within those options you can search even more. You can search by company, plan type, price, and others. You can apply for more than one, but make sure you that when you do, you heed the advice given above. Good luck in your search!

Click Here To Compare The Lowest Cost Health Insurance

Video explanation:

Unfortunately, when it comes to temporary medical insurance, your choices are going to be more limited than if you were getting a traditional policy. Benefits are also generally less flexible.

But the good news is that the prices are generally lower because the insurance company’s risk is lowered. Also, the terms are usually 1 month to 12 months, but you usually get the option of canceling in the middle or shortening the term if you want. In other words, the length of time is generally flexible.

If you want to keep the costs down, this is what I recommend doing. If you’re generally a healthy person, then get a plan that is purely for emergencies. For example, I haven’t incurred ANY medical expenses in 4-5 years. If you’re like me, why would you need a $0 deductible? That’s just going to cost you a fortune in monthly premiums. It’s better to save on your premiums and if an emergency happens, you’ll be covered.

If you do normally incur a lot of expenses, then you might want to look at a higher premium in exchange for a lower deductible, lower coinsurance, and more comprehensive coverage. This will probably be a better option if you’re going to take the longer end of this temporary plan. Sometimes these plans can actually be extended up to 3 years, depending on the provider. But I don’t think there is much benefit to doing that. The only benefit perhaps would be the flexibility in the cancelation if perhaps you don’t know how long you will need the insurance. Otherwise, why not just get a regular health insurance plan? It will save you money over 3 years. I know I said that the temporary plans are less expensive, but that’s only in the short run because the risk is lowered. As the term gets longer, the risk goes up and so does your premium. If you want cheap medical insurance, you always need to weigh the benefits of each plan to get.

You will also need to compare plans. Not all insurance providers offer the same prices at the same time. Try looking for policy prices closest to the time that you will need the policy – which may be right now. Insurance companies are constantly changing their pricing structures due to changing business needs and risk fluctuations. Either way, you should compare apples-to-apples plans to make sure that you’re not overpaying one company for the same coverage as another.

Click Here To Compare Temporary Health Insurance Coverage

Remember to read deep into the coverage pages and take your time deciding. It could mean the difference between a lot of money and if you’re trying to save, research is where the savings come in. Good luck with your shopping.

Insurance companies are changing their pricing all the time. Risk considerations, business needs, and other factors are changing all the time. So the company with the lowest price is also changing frequently. That’s why you need to compare companies using a trusted 3rd party comparison site. When you can compare apples-t0-apples plans side to side, you can clearly see who’s offering the lowest premiums.

Click Here To Compare And Find The Lowest Cost Health Insurance

Beyond comparing, there are other things you can do to cut down on the cost of health insurance. First off, I usually say that using the insurance companies to pay for your regularly incurred expenses will drive up the cost of your monthly premium. In order to determine whether or not this will save you money, you need to calculate how much money you are currently spending on medical expenses.

If you’re currently spending nothing (like me, for example – I haven’t spent anything on medical expenses in 4-5 years), then you’re not going to benefit from a plan that covers routine expenses through low co-pays and low deductibles. If you do spend a lot on regular doctor visits, prescription medications, and specialist visits, then you need to consider if the increased cost of your premium is going to be a better investment then paying for it “a-la-carte”.

For example, if you currently spend $2000 a year on medical expenses, with no health insurance, and you decide to go for a plan with a deductible of 0$, so that all of your expenses are covered, how much more do you want to spend to cover the emergencies? Because if your premiums are $200 a month ($2400/year), you’ll only spend $400 a year to cover scenarios that you don’t know are going to happen. I’d say that’s not a bad deal, but it’s ultimately up to you. And your scenario probably will not play out with these exact numbers so you will need to do the math.

If you just want the lowest premium possible, then your best bet is to balance your risk and see what deductible you may be able to cover in an emergency only. Take out all of the “bells and whistles” from the plan, like psychiatric care (if you’re not going to use it), maternity coverage (again, if you’re not going to use it), or prescription drugs (if you generally don’t go for them). Then raise the deductible as high as you can go. The place where I say not to compromise much is the “co-insurance”, because that’s the factor that could end up costing you a lot of money if you have an emergency. Most plans will cover you up to 2 million dollars or something like that. But if you have a 30% co-insurance, how good is that 2 million dollar coverage?

Overall, you need to look carefully at the available health insurance plans and their respective coverages and pick what’s best for your individual situation – there is no one “low cost individual health insurance” solution out there. You just have to be smart and compare.

Click Here To Compare The Best Rates In The Industry

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!

Aetna has introduced a new online resource designed to help members who have enrolled or are considering enrolling in an Aetna Consumer-Directed Health Plan(CDHP) get the most out of their plan. Through a new page on Aetna.com, visitors can learn more about the plans, get tips on how to use these plans effectively, and view informational videos on the two most common types of plans – Health ReimbursementArrangements (HRA) and Health       Savings Accounts(HSA). The site was developed using feedback from Aetna’s own CDHP members, as well as an independent survey conducted earlier this year, indicating that an overwhelming majority of consumers would benefit from tools and information to help them better understand their coverage levels, find doctors in their network, and estimate the cost of an office visit before scheduling.

“The downturn in the economy has prompted many employers and consumers to consider CDHPs as a way to better manage their health and health care costs,” said Aetna President Mark Bertolini. “Switching to one of these plans can be a big change. But by providing people with the information and tools they need we can help them make more informed health care decisions and get the most out of their health care benefits.”

Helping Consumers Get the Information They Need

Aetna’s CDHP educational resources are part of a broader Maximize Your Benefits campaign. This campaign provides consumers and Aetna members with information and tools designed to help them get the most out of their health care benefits. The Consumer-Directed Health Care page provides an “At a Glance” overview of the plans; “the basics” on how to use the plans, as well as informational videos and other educational materials.

A survey of CDHP enrollees conducted earlier this year showed that tools like DocFind, Aetna’s online provider directory, and Aetna’s secure member self-service website, which provides access to benefits information and the company’s cost of care tools, are ideally suited to meet the needs of survey participants. Specifically, the survey found that:

– The majority of consumers surveyed would have been highly likely to use resources such as DocFind (89%), Benefits Used/Remaining (87%) and Cost of Care Tools (84%) when they first enrolled in a CDHP.

– Consumers would have found access to resources such as DocFind (96%), Benefits Used/Remaining (92%) and Cost of Care Tools (91%) as highly valuable when they first enrolled in a CDHP.

Lower Costs and Positive Impact on Health & Wellness

Recent reports have highlighted the fact that more employers are selecting CDHPs as a way to reduce costs as a result of the economy. An analysis of Aetna members earlier this year showed that employers who offer Aetna HealthFund plans as an option experienced a savings of $7 million per 10,000 members over a five year period.

Aetna’s research also demonstrates that Consumer-Directed Health Plans can have a positive impact on health and wellness. Aetna’s study found that Consumer-Directed Health Plan members:

– Sought increased levels of chronic and preventive care

– Used generic drugs more often

– Accessed online tools and information at higher rates than PPO members.

Importantly, this year’s results also show that Aetna HealthFund members spent 5 to 10 percent more on preventive care and had 5 to 10 percent lower emergency room use than PPO members, suggesting that Consumer-Directed Health Plan members are becoming more informed consumers of health care.

“It is clear that Consumer-Directed Health Plans can have a positive impact on both health and overall cost,” said Bertolini.

About the author: “As the first national health insurer to launch a consumer-directed plan, we believe it is our responsibility to provide the information, educational tools, and online resources people need to manage their health.”

Click Here To Compare The Best Options For Self Employed Medical Insurance

The first thing to check out is if you can get access to a group plan. If you are of 35, or a smoker, or have pre-existing conditions, being part of a group plan can save you a lot of money over and individual plan.

Obviously the easiest way is to get it through work. Even some part-time jobs will provide coverage. But if you’re self-employed, this is obviously not an option. Unless of course, you have many employees and create your own group plan. The other option is to see if you can get into a group plan through an association that you are part of or can become part of. Sometimes your University’s Alumni Association will have a group plan. And yet another option is to go back to school and become part of their group plan (or get a student discount).

Click Here To See Health Insurance Options For Self Employed Entrepreneurs

If a group plan is not an option, or you don’t want to be in a group plan (here are the benefits of individual health insurance policies), then an individual insurance plan is the way to go.

Tip #1: Understand why you are getting insurance. Are you getting it for the routine expenses or for emergencies? If you’re getting it for emergencies, think about paying less by raising your deductible. If you’re getting it for routine expenses, think about lowering your copays or paying less for prescription drugs.

Tip #2: If you’re not somebody who goes to the doctor often, you can potentially save money with a PPO by not having to get a referral to go to a specialist (think about it for a second). This will also give you a wider network of doctors to choose from.

Tip #3: Lock in your price for as long possible. You can only lose by having your premium increased every year. Because if something happens within a 5 year term, your rate will not necessarily go up if your rate is locked. Be prepared for a bumpafter your term though.

Tip #4: Don’t pay more than you have to. Make sure you shop around. Health insurance companies are changing their pricing structure all the time. The site I think is best for getting discounts on the best selection of medical insurance is ehealthinsurance.com

Click Here To Compare Health Insurance Quotes Now

Also, keep in mind, new laws may force everybody into buying individual health insurance soon (I know that may seem one thing or another to some people, but I’m not going to make this a political article). One unfortunate outcome of that may be rising prices due to everybody’s increased risk. Why? What most people don’t understand is that most people who are uninsured now are high risk for insurance companies. So I would recommend not procrastinating a filling out an application asap.

According to the market-research group Datamonitor, medical inflation is the reason for yearly increases of 8% in health insurance premiums. The steady progress in the development of new drugs, therapies and equipment used to diagnose medical conditions and the resulting costs are an obvious reason for this. This is understandable and everyone wants the latest in diagnostics and treatments. Equipment becomes obsolete with time and invariably the very words newer and improved mean a rise in cost.

One of the reasons your premium may have increased is to do with your age, insurance risk increases with age, therefore this could have been the reason for the increase in premium. Most of the health insurance providers set their premiums in age bandings, so it is likely that someone aged between 50 and 59 would pay their normal agreed premium. Once you reach 60 then you go into the next band, this can sometimes have a quite dramatic effect on the premiums, with some providers this can increase by as much as 50%, and therefore it is wise to shop around by using a health insurance intermediary.

Some health insurers have chosen to smooth out the increases on a yearly basis. What this means is that you only get a small percentage increase due to age.

One of the quickest ways to cut your health insurance premiums is to increase your excess on the policy, increasing the excess from £100 to £250 could with some insurers slash your premium by 10%. This is because you are less likely to make a claim on your policy.

Many of the insurers off No-claims discounts similar to motor insurance policies, if you have not made a claim you build up the discount each year. There can be as much as a 50% saving on premiums. You should be able to transfer this if you decide to change providers.

A few providers now have what is called the ‘6 week option’ for a lower premium. The difference is that if the NHS delay for your in-patient or day-patient treatment is less than six weeks you will need to use NHS facilities as a non-paying patient or self-fund any private treatment. If there’s an NHS delay of six weeks or more for the operation or treatment you need, then cover is provided by the policy. This ‘6 week’ option allows the premiums to be kept much lower.

A health insurance intermediary will shop around on the open market and find you the right cover at the right price, don’t lose that valuable cover by cancelling your health insurance, go online and find a specialist intermediary.

Health Insurance Solutions UK providing medical insurance and health insurance advice. To get online medical health insurance quote, health insurance benefits and health insurance plans in the UK visit http://www.healthinsurancesolutions.co.uk/

So if you make a low income and you’re struggling to find a health insurance plan, don’t despair. You just need to get a plan that’s cheap and will take care of most of your needs. On this site, I talk a lot about how to craft a cheap health insurance plan so I would recommend reading those posts as well this one. If you’re ready to look at quotes…

Click Here To Look At Low Income Medical Insurance Quotes

So, what are you options?

HDHP – High deductible health plan. Basically, you’re deductible is an amount that you would need to pay on a yearly basis before any of your other, non-doctor visit, expenses are covered by your insurance company. If you make this deductible higher than say, $5000, you have a good chance of lowering your monthly bill and also grabbing some coverage for doctor visits, prescription drugs, and other costs.

Another “so-called benefit” of an HDHP is you can use an HSA (Health Savings Account). It works like a “traditional IRA” (Individual retirement account) where your contributions are tax-deductible and you can gain interest tax-free. BUT, keep in mind the caveats:

1) You can only withdraw the money penalty-free for health expenses. If you take it out for other reasons, there’s a penalty. And also, remember, you’re going to get taxed when you take the money out after your are 60 years old (and there’s no way to know what tax rates will be then or what bracket you will be in).

2) In 2010, Your deductible must be over $1200 for a single person and $2400 for a family.

3) You must find a plan that takes HSAs. This will limit your choices when buying individual health insurance.

I like HSAs for people who are thinking of saving some money and they think they may need to use some of that money on medical expenses (and could use a tax break). It’s not the best option for pure investment, nor is it the best option for those who don’t want to tie up any of their funds. **Keep in mind that some people say you can save some money on administrative costs by having an HSA debit card. I don’t know if this is true and not sure if I buy it. But you may want to look into it.

If you’re on a very low income, a “mini medical” plan might be right for you. You can get coverage for drugs, doctor visits, and some hospital stays but you will not get a lot of coverage for big emergencies. In my opinion, it’s more important to have the coverage for the emergencies, because this is when the hospital may just ignore you – as opposed to you trying to pay for a regularly scheduled doctor visit, where they will take a check and don’t generally even WANT to accept insurance.

Overall, I would say to check out my “Cheap Medical Insurance” post for how to craft the cheapest policy using the mentality of going to the doctor for emergencies. If you’re really poor, can you afford to be seeing these professionals all that much? In my opinion, the best thing to do is eat well, exercise, and take MUCH CHEAPER preventative measures to keep yourself out of the doctor’s office. Because when it comes to Western Medicine, it’s expensive and there’s just no free lunch out there. At least not yet. Until then, get the cheapest possible.

Click Here To Compare The Cheapest Plans Out There

I hope this information was helpful and you were able to find some insurance solutions that may help you and your family.

If you’re a student, there’s good news when it comes to health insurance – it’s most likely going to be the cheapest for you.

This post is to give you a couple of pointers to get the best deal. But if you’re ready to shop around…

Click Here To Get The Cheapest Student Health Insurance

OK, so the good news:

1) If you’re a student, you’re probably in the 18-24 years old category. That’s going to give you a BIG break on insurance costs because your risk for serious health issues is significantly lower than older people.

2) A lot of companies will give you a nice discount (maybe even 20-30%) for being a student. One tip on this… if you’re not a student, don’t lie to get a discount – this is insurance fraud.

The best way to get the cheapest coverage is to get free care from your university or see about group healthcare options available through your college or community. If these are not an option – for example, you go to community college or your uni/community just doesn’t offer it, you’ll need an individual insurance plan.

To get the cheapest option, you’ll want to eliminate the “bells and whistles” of insurance to make your monthly premium as low as possible. For example, if you do not need psych counseling 20 times a year, don’t pay for it in your policy – get my drift?

Also, I always recommend getting insurance just for emergencies and not routine procedures. Also, check with your student health office and you will probably find that they do a lot of these regular check ups for free or low cost. Many times all you need is a supplement insurance policy incase something drastic happens and they don’t cover it.

Click Here To Compare The Most Affordable Insurance Policies

If this is the case, compare policies across the board and pick the cheapest one. In my opinion, the only thing you need to decide on is how high of a deductible you can afford and high of a coinsurance you’re willing to risk.

For example, if you generally do not have access to more than $1-2K, don’t get a deductible of $10,000. That’s fairly illogical incase a real accident happens. I also recommend going for a 0% co-insurance. If you need a $100,000 operation, the last thing you want is to add another year of college tuition to your debt profile.

OK, review:

1) For routine services, find out where you can get free appointments. This should work fine in most scenarios.

2) Choose an “emergency-based” policy. That means high copays, not a lot of drug coverage, and not a lot of alternative or supplemental coverage, etc.

3) It might be worth spending a little extra for a middle or low-range deductible and a low co-insurance. But you need to taylor that to your specific budget/needs.

4) Compare prices on apples-to-apples policies on a reputable site known for getting low prices. I recommend using ehealthinsurance. I have found that they gather the most amount of policies and lowest prices, especially for students. You probably won’t need to go anywhere else after them, which makes buying individual health insurance much easier.

Click Here To Look At The Best Student Health Insurance Options

Don’t forget that the people that ultimately get the lowest rates are the ones who keep themselves in good health and do not make a lot of claims. So don’t forget to eat healthy and exercise! And with the formula above, it shouldn’t break your bank to get a decent health insurance policy. I hope this information was helpful, good luck with your shopping!