Major Medical Health Insurance Rates

Affordable private health insurance plans have recently become much more popular in most parts of the country. As group insurance premiums continue to rise, and employers contribute less towards their employee’s premiums, private individual and family health insurance coverage are often an affordable alternative. These types of policies are usually very flexible and can be altered every year, unlike many more restrictive employer-provided plans.

Typically, an employer will feature only one company’s health care policies for consideration. Although there may be many variations of coverage, including high-deductible plans and comprehensive plans, choices may be limited. If your personal physician is not listed as a Network-provider, you will be forced to pay a larger out-of-pocket expense or change to a different physician.

However, when purchasing your own personal health care, you are free to choose among many large reputable health insurers. Depending on where you live, some of the most popular insurers would are Aetna, Blue Cross, UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Cigna, Assurant and Celtic. Often, there are smaller regional companies that offer competitive rates such as Geisinger Health in Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania.

PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE QUOTES

Your own plan can be better tailored to meet your individual or family needs. As an example, if maternity coverage is not needed, there are many policies that exclude maternity benefits and subsequently reduce the premium. There also may be specific riders that provide targeted benefits for your specific situation. One common example would be an enhanced accidental injury benefit that can be added as an inexpensive rider. This coverage is often used when there are dependents at home. Once the dependents are no longer in the household, you can remove the rider.

Often, a Health Savings Account (HSA) is great option to consider. When purchasing your own medical coverage, you are free to choose among many companies with a wide variety of affordable deductible options. You are also able to pick the bank of your choice if you are going to make contributions into the HSA. With group coverage, you may not have those options available to you. In fact, it’s possible that taking out an HSA or high-deductible plan may not be one of the choices you have.

Group health insurance benefits provided by an employer can have some advantages. For example, if the employer is paying a substantial portion of the premium (or all of the premium), it may be wise to keep group coverage. Although the percentage of employer contributions for health care is reducing, some larger companies still pay a large portion of the premium for their employees. But medium-size and small-size companies are definitely cutting back.

Also, if there is a major health condition present, such as diabetes, cancer or heart disease, it will be difficult to qualify for a private health insurance plan, and staying with the current employer policy may be the best option. Also, group policies may also provide specific benefits that an individual plan may not offer. It’s important to clearly identify the coverages that are the most important to you.

Affordable  plans are medically underwritten, so although taking a physical is rarely required, an application for coverage must be completed and submitted, and subsequently approved before coverage begins. It’s important to closely compare the rate that was offered when the policy was approved. It is possible that existing health conditions could increase the proposed rate.

The quotes you receive from our website are free. You are never obligated to purchase any plan or take our advice. Of course, we work with private health insurance plans every day, so hopefully the information we offer is helpful.