If you don’t have health insurance and you need medical care, who is going to pay the bill? It is a tough question that many Americans are asking themselves these days. With health insurance in play, it means being well, because there is access to preventive care from your primary health care provider. If you don’t have health insurance and need care, you will have to go to an ER for help. The cost of an ER visit is over $1,000.
Do you have that kind of money to pay for services? Most patients don’t. On the other hand, if they had a health insurance plan in place, they would not be paying the full freight for the invoice. Food for thought. Do you want to be well or be bankrupt paying your medical bills?
To learn more and get a health insurance quote, visit https://www.benepath.com
When you start the process of searching for a health plan, the first step is getting quotes for yourself or your family. There are many places on the internet where you can do this, including Benepath, but there are also many places that tell you they provide quotes and then sell your information to multiple agents. Then all you get is a phone that will not stop ringing…
So, make sure you use a reputable site before you give anyone your information.
Once you have your quotes, you need to start your analysis and using a simple knock out process will help you get there a lot faster. Here is a summary of the best way to narrow your list of quotes:
- Set your budget as a range and eliminate all the quotes that are 10-15% more than your budget. Believe me, you want to consider quotes that are a little bit more because with health insurance – you get what you pay for and sometimes a few dollars more can mean big savings to you down the road.
- Decide if you want complete freedom of choice or whether you are willing to see just a select group of doctors. Then knock out all the plans that don’t provide you with the choice you want.
- Determine if having a copay for an office visit is worth the trade off for a much higher out of pocket expense in case you end up with a serious medical event. A broken leg can cost as much as $15,000 and I can tell you there are lots of consumers that bought plans with $30 copays thinking that was important and then ended up with a $5,000 bill from a broken leg. Then rule out the plans that don’t have the features you want.
After doing those 3 simple knockouts, you should be down to just a handful of plans. From there, you need to do a side by side comparison and decide which one gives you the most for your money.
At the end of the day, using an agent to help you through all of this is free and they have many plans you will not find online which may be a good alternative for you as well.
by: Clelland Green
Take advantage of affordable health insurance quotes now, before 2014.
Anticipation is running high for more changes to the health care system in 2014. People are beginning to realize that if they don’t get insurance now, then they will have to get insurance, or else they will be fined. What a conundrum. Is there any way around it? Yes, go online now and check out the affordable health insurance quotes that are available. It’s best to act now, as no one knows for sure what the prices will be like in 2014.
The chance that policies will be higher in 2014 is quite likely, simply based on the fact that insurance companies have been told they may not refuse to insure anyone, even those with pre-existing conditions. Since insurance companies are businesses, they want to make money to cover the risks associated with insuring high risk people. That generally means higher priced premiums. Act now to find affordable health insurance quotes and get a policy in place to beat the last minute rush.
The bottom line in health care these days is you need to have health insurance – now or later. There is no other sensible choice. Without health insurance, you will be dinged to pay the enormous bill you incurred for medical services rendered without the benefit of health insurance. Do you have over $100,000 for heart surgery? More than $30,000 for a broken leg or arm? $15,000 or more for a two-day stay in hospital for pneumonia? You get the picture. No insurance, no one to help pay the bill. With insurance, you have help. It’s pretty straightforward.
Some type of health insurance is necessary, whether it is basic coverage or a deluxe plan that covers just about everything. In other words, the choice is up to you to take advantage of the best options that suit your lifestyle. There are many ways to reduce the cost of your premiums, like increasing the deductible. Ask your insurance agent about how to save money on health insurance. They get asked that all the time, and have no issues letting you know what you can do to save money.
The most important thing is that you start now to search for affordable health insurance quotes. It only takes a few minutes of your time, and may be done in the comfort of your own home. Right now, there are a number of really good deals and the competition in the insurance industry is to your advantage. Get a deal now, rather than take a chance that later there are no deals and you get what you get.
Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit https://www.benepath.com.
by: Clelland Green
There are three key pieces of the Affordable Care Act which will cause health insurance premiums to rise faster than they would otherwise.
- Guaranteed Issue – The mandate will ease this expense, but providing everyone coverage regardless of their health will cause premiums for people who are healthy and presently buy their own insurance to skyrocket. This impact will be felt in the individual and small group markets and not in the large group market.
- More Demand without An Increase in Supply – If you significantly increase demand for any service or product and you do not have a corresponding increase in supply, prices will rise. If 30 million more people obtain health insurance (current CBO estimate is between 30 and 33 million by 2016) that will cause an increase in health care demand of at least 5% and possibly more. Most of this increase will come from the expansion of Medicaid which will create supply shortages throughout the country and will be felt particularly hard in urban areas. The result of this expansion will be further cost shifting to private insurance as Medicaid reimbursement rates are significantly below market rates – even heavily discounted market rates. Bottom line, doctors and hospitals will charge private plans more and the premiums for those plans will rise.
- Minimum Coverage – Currently people buy high deductible plans and other health insurance products where the benefits are limited in such a way as to provide an affordable plan. Exchange based plans do not have those features. Aetna’s CEO Mark T. Bertolini gave the WSJ’s health blogan example of a 40 year old Texan currently buying a $5000 deductible policy is paying $189/month and the cheapest exchange plan will cost him more than $450/month. The $3000 premium difference more than offsets the higher out of pocket expenses of the cheaper plan, which are not $3000 more than the bronze plan.
While these provisions may be popular, they are going to have a significant impact on the lives of middle class Americans who desparately need reform that will help control the cost curve.
Whether you are shopping for a new car or for health insurance, consumers like to research their options before making a decision.
When a sales representative asks, “Can I help you”, the most likely response is “I’m just looking around.”
Consumers say this to buy themselves some time to get more educated about their buying options and make an informed decision.
With Compare-Health-Quotes.com, health insurance shoppers become more educated not only about the health insurance plans availalble to them, but the corresponding health insurance quotes for each plan as well.
It’s as easy as 1-2-3.
- Enter some basic information including how many people you are looking to insure and what geographic region you live in
- Get health insurance quotes and plans from top carriers available in your region
- Apply online if there is a plan that fits your budget and needs
People have been searching for medical insurance online for over 10 years now, and according to research at Forrester, this number is only going to keep growing as a greater percentage of people do their insurance searches on the internet.
When you perform your search online, you are going to be presented with up to hundreds of different health insurance choices. For the average person, its just overwhelming and we recommend that you work with a quality advisor to make the right decision.
If you want to make the decision yourself, here are the basics:
Know your monthly budget: This is going to be the best place to start and it will reduce your choices substantially – unless the sky is the limit… When setting your budget, don’t skimp – you can get inexpensive plans – but you give up a lot in benefits.
Know your healthcare needs: Have an honest conversation with yourself about what you and your families needs are. Is anyone sick and frequently needs to see a doctor? Is everyone healthy and you really only see a doctor once or twice a year? Copays make more sense if you need a lot of care – but if you rarely use the healthcare system an HSA program may be right for you.
Know how much you can afford out of your own pocket: This will establish how much you should choose for your maximum out of pocket expenses.
Most online health insurance quote systems will give you the ability to choose all of the above. After you are done telling the system how much you can spend and what kind of plan you want, your choices should narrow to just a few options. Once you have those options, you can start looking at the finer points like ‘Is my doctor in the network’ etc.
At the end of the day, a good health insurance agent will help you navigate all of the above and will discuss important considerations you probably won’t think of on your own. And this comes at no cost to you as the monthly rate you pay is the same if you have an agent or don’t have an agent.
by Clelland Green
There is a health insurance plan on the market for everyone today. You just need to look for it.
Living in today’s high technology world is stressful. The economy is bad. People are unemployed in large numbers. The environment is doing odd things. The health care system is overloaded. Add this all together with just trying to live, and you get health problems. If you don’t have a health insurance plan to protect you, even if you are out of a job, you will be saddled with a huge medical bill when you need to see a doctor. That is a fact. It’s time to research health insurance plans.
At one time, the company you worked for or even the government offered health insurance plans. Not so much now, for the simple reason that they have become too expensive for employers. If an employer does keep a health insurance plan as a benefit for employees, the bulk of the costs are passed to the workers. They want to reduce their operating overhead by passing the buck – literally. As unfair as that might be, this still means you are in a situation where you need health insurance, or go bankrupt attempting to pay medical bills incurred for a sudden medical crisis you did not expect.
Put this into perspective. In a nutshell, those without health insurance these days can ill-afford to get sick. The catastrophic consequences of their illness, broken bone, surgery or other care, would put them in a desperate financial bind, with very few ways out, other than declaring personal bankruptcy. This is where choice hits the road. You choose to be well and carry health insurance, even on a strict budget, or you don’t buy health insurance figuring you will save money. You won’t save money, not when your medical bill for a broken wrist comes to well over $20,000.
Know what health conditions you and your family have before searching for a health insurance plan that suits your circumstances. Write everything out if you need to, and cross check your list with the information you find on the Internet. While many insurance websites have a wealth of details online, there is always something you need to know. Call and ask.
Do not assume that the cheapest health insurance plans are the ones that will work for you, just because they are cheap. You may end up with insurance that does not cover your specific conditions, or won’t pay for E.R. care. That means, you pay the bills and pay for a policy that does you no good. That makes no sense at all.
Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit https://www.benepath.com.
There is a health insurance plan on the market for everyone today. You just need to look for it.
Living in today’s high technology world is stressful. The economy is bad. People are unemployed in large numbers. The environment is doing odd things. The health care system is overloaded. Add this all together with just trying to live, and you get health problems. If you don’t have a health insurance plan to protect you, even if you are out of a job, you will be saddled with a huge medical bill when you need to see a doctor. That is a fact. It’s time to research health insurance plans.
At one time, the company you worked for or even the government offered health insurance plans. Not so much now, for the simple reason that they have become too expensive for employers. If an employer does keep a health insurance plan as a benefit for employees, the bulk of the costs are passed to the workers. They want to reduce their operating overhead by passing the buck – literally. As unfair as that might be, this still means you are in a situation where you need health insurance, or go bankrupt attempting to pay medical bills incurred for a sudden medical crisis you did not expect.
Put this into perspective. In a nutshell, those without health insurance these days can ill-afford to get sick. The catastrophic consequences of their illness, broken bone, surgery or other care, would put them in a desperate financial bind, with very few ways out, other than declaring personal bankruptcy. This is where choice hits the road. You choose to be well and carry health insurance, even on a strict budget, or you don’t buy health insurance figuring you will save money. You won’t save money, not when your medical bill for a broken wrist comes to well over $20,000.
Know what health conditions you and your family have before searching for a health insurance plan that suits your circumstances. Write everything out if you need to, and cross check your list with the information you find on the Internet. While many insurance websites have a wealth of details online, there is always something you need to know. Call and ask.
Do not assume that the cheapest health insurance plans are the ones that will work for you, just because they are cheap. You may end up with insurance that does not cover your specific conditions, or won’t pay for E.R. care. That means, you pay the bills and pay for a policy that does you no good. That makes no sense at all.
Clelland Green is with Benepath.com, a leader in providing health insurance quotes. Benepath provides individuals, families, and businesses with affordable health insurance quotes in just a few mouse clicks. To learn more, visit https://www.benepath.com.
What does everyone want with a health insurance plan?
- Low copays
- Lots of doctors and hospitals in the network
- Extensive coverage
All at a low price.
On the surface, HMO’s can appear to be all of the above, but if you buy an HMO without looking at the details you could end up for a big surprise.
Many cheap HMO’s advertise the doctor’s office copay – the most widely used benefit in health insurance. But its when you end up in the emergency room or need surgery when you will be truly using your insurance benefits. And here is where you may end up with a problem.
Many HMO’s designed for individuals come with very high deductibles and coinsurance limits for those types of services. So everything is fine so long as all you need are a few prescriptions and to visit your doctor every once in a while, but then you end up owing $5,000 when you end up in the hospital.
So just be careful when you are selecting a plan and make sure you look at how much you might have to pay if you need expensive health care services.
Check out HMO Health Insurance Quotes at compare-health-insurance.com.
The Supreme Court ruling on health reform will have a lasting impact on what Americans pay for health insurance. The Affordable Care Act has multiple provisions that will directly impact the cost of insurance in both positive and negative ways:
Guaranteed Issue – We have already seen what has happened to the cost of individual health insurance in states where they eliminated underwriting like New York and New Jersey. They go up and their uninsured population expands. New Jersey has 12% of their population without coverage which is 25% higher than Pennsylvania – a neighboring state – in spite of New Jersey’s higher income and lower unemployment rates. Its because individual policies cost two times what they do in Pennsylvania.
Individual Mandate – This provision will offset the cost of guaranteed issue somewhat, but the penalties are not high enough to ensure the participation you would need from the healthy population to offset those costs. A quick look at the costs in Massachusetts will show you how premiums respond to both a mandate and guaranteed issue. Its not pretty.
Preventive care and covering children to age 26 – These two provisions are both popular and not very expensive (maybe 2-4% impact on premiums) – my bet is if health reform is stricken, we will see this passed into law very quickly. Aetna, UnitedHealthcare and Humana are all saying they will keep these provisions in their plans even if the law is stricken.
Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) Requirements – Carriers were required to keep non-medical costs below certain thresholds – most carriers were already there – so no real impact. Most carriers just used this provision to cut agent commissions, which cost this country thousands of jobs.
Premium Subsidies – My only thought here is how was this bill actually going to pay for this? This bill was not funded adequately or with much more than smoke and mirrors. The claim was for huge savings in Medicare – but that was offset by the expansion of Medicaid – which the states have to fund a chunk of… Its just too easy to punch holes in how this $100B plan would never generate $100B in revenues.
At the end of the day, most Americans will be better off if the entire bill is stricken but doing so will create a vacuum that will need to be filled by something else. Let’s hope our leaders can actually work together to create a truly bipartisan plan that has a decent chance of working.
To get excellent health insurance quotes, try Compare-Health-Quotes.
