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Today Your Personal Financial Adviser is discussing some useful tips to buy right individual health insurance. When exploring the wide variety of individual health insurance policies available today, a consumer can become quickly overwhelmed with complexity and jargon. Many consumers will seek ways to save money on their health insurance only to find that the policy they have purchased is completely useless. There are no magic tricks when it comes to saving money on individual health insurance, but there are plenty of scams that make it easy for consumers to waste money.
Insurance companies, like any other company in our capitalist system, are in business to make money. These companies boost their profits not by providing high-quality health care, but rather by overcharging and denying coverage. Pre-existing conditions, a smoking habit, and chronic conditions can significantly increase the cost of coverage or prevent coverage in certain areas.
The only way consumers can truly save money on individual health insurance is to purchase catastrophic coverage plans. These policies offer much lower premiums. The trade off is that the consumer is responsible for a much higher out-of-pocket deductible. The consumer is ultimately better off by insuring against major illnesses and injuries that would normally cost tens of thousands of dollars. Regularly-schedule checkups, doctors visits for minor issues, and prescription drugs are more affordable when paid out-of-pocket rather than via insurance proceeds. Like any insurance policy, the consumer must strike the right balance between the monthly premiums of the policy and the annual deductible and co-pay amounts. The larger the co-pay and deductible that the consumer can tolerate, the lower the monthly premiums of the policy will be. Consumers with greater personal savings will benefit from higher deductibles. Consumers with little or no cash savings may be forced to purchase policies with lower deductibles. Deductibles as high as $5,000 and $10,000 are available with some policies.
The consumers who have the easiest time finding appropriate health insurance on an individual basis are those who are young and healthy. Those individuals who are older and have health issues are much better off obtaining group health insurance coverage. In general, coverage outside of a group plan can be very costly, and certain risk factors can significantly increase the premiums. For consumers who have no option other than buying health insurance on a stand-alone basis, purchasing the insurance through a leading health insurance company’s website is usually the best option. This cuts out the heavy commissions that traditional insurance agents can pocket. It’s also wise to obtain quotes from a variety of companies since the best company for one individual may not be the best company for another individual.
By the way, you can find interesting information about health insurance here.
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