Thursday, December 4, 2008

Free Health Insurance Quote

With today's recent economic downturn, more and more individuals and families are finding themselves without health insurance. If you find yourself suddenly in the market for health insurance, you might not know where to turn to find the best insurance for your particular circumstances. The best coverage for you will depend on how many people are in your family, the level of deductible you are willing to pay, and the kind of coverage you require. All of these factors can make shopping for health insurance confusing, but with a little research and comparison shopping you will find it is not difficult to get low cost health insurance for yourself and your family.

The first step to shopping for insurance is to decide what kind of coverage you need. There are three basic kinds of health insurance:

• HMO- an HMO is a one stop health plan. You pay a monthly premium for your coverage rather than paying each time you receive a medical service. You will have a deductible for this type of plan, normally from $10-$50 each time you visit a doctor's office or medical facility. HMOs are normally the cheapest type of health insurance, but for value you give up choice and will have to go to a doctor who is employed by your HMO.

• PPO- A PPO is like an HMO, in that you can select from a group of doctors and providers. You will have to pay a monthly premium and a deductible each time you use the services. This plan allows you to also see non- network providers, though you will pay a greater amount to visit someone not in your network.

• POS- A POS plan is the most expensive, because it will not only pay for you to see a doctor in your network, but also any doctor outside the network that you are referred to.

Once you have decided what kind of insurance is best for you, you will want to compare plans offered by different insurers. The higher the deductible you are willing to pay, the lower the cost of the insurance will be. Any insurer will give you a free low cost insurance quote, and you can try calling companies in your area to ask them for the free quote. A more efficient way to get a free quote on low cost insurance would be to use an insurance comparison site. You can list all the characteristics you are looking for in an insurance plan, and let the software display for you several plans from several different companies. Once you see all the options side by side, you should be able to select the one that is best for your particular needs.

Before buying a policy, be sure to check on the record of the insurer. Some consumers have bought what they thought was low-cost health insurance that turned out to be a fraud or scam policy. Your state department of insurance can tell you if an insurer has good standing in your state. Several consumer and news magazines also publish lists of best and worst insurance companies that you can use to research your choice. Nothing is more important than your health, by taking your time to research low cost health insurance you can make the best choice for yourself and your family. The next step is to compare health insurance rates at a health insurance rate comparison site online.

Ryan Baba reviews health insurance policies and recommends comparing quotes from multiple providers http://couponredeemer.com/healthinsurance

Sunday, November 30, 2008

The Top Health Insurance Company For You!

If you are shopping for your own health insurance policy, you probably need to make some choices. If you have never had to make a choice before, it can be very confusing. In fact, you may read a lot of insurance jargon and see initials and acronyms, while you have no idea what it all means. One of the most common choices on the individual or group medical coverage market is between an HSA and PPO health plan. It is actually very easy to understand these plans and the differences between them.

PPO

A PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) health plan comes with a network of medical providers. In order to find a doctor, hospital, or other medical service, an insured person would look at a list that is either printed in a book or published online. Those providers have agreed to follow network guidelines, including cost limits, in order to be listed. A listing should help them because it will provide a steady stream of potential patients.

The insured people, on the other hand, know that they can get the highest levels of coverage by using network providers. If they leave the network for medical services, they will have to pay more out of pocket expenses. Exceptions to the network coverage rules may be made for emergencies or other unique circumstances, but it is usually much cheaper for a plan member to use the network when they can.

An HSA (Health Savings Account), on the other hand, comes with two parts. A major medical plan with a high deductible provides coverage for large medical expenses. The medical plan may have a PPO network where an insured person can get discounted (repriced) services.

The other part of the plan is a savings account that may earn interest. Contributions to the savings account are tax deductible within limits. This money may be used for a variety of medical expenses, including some medical services that may not even be covered by major medical plans. Health care like dental, vision, and even vitamins may be approved purchases. Of course, the savings account is mainly intended to provide cash to pay medical expenses when the major medical plan deductible has not been satisfied.

Is an HSA or PPO the Best Health Plan?

Well, it really depends upon the expectations, budget and needs of the individual or family that will be covered. Disciplined savers who like to control their health care costs will probably benefit from an HSA plan. If they can make regular contributions to the savings account, they can benefit from tax deductions, and have the security of knowing they will have cash to spend when they need it. If they do not use all of the cash in the account, the money will roll over for the next year. At retirement, they may withdraw funds from the account without a tax penalty.

However, some people who tried HSA plans did not like them because they did not get around to putting regular payments in the savings account. They would be better off with a lower deductible PPO plan which makes it easier to predict health care costs, does not require as much savings discipline, and can be much simpler to deal with.

Learn the difference between a ppo or hsa health insurance plan.

We want to help you find the Best Insurance for your family.

Marilyn Katz - EzineArticles Expert Author

Low Cost Health Insurance

If you are looking for individual short term health insurance coverage for whatever reason, whether or not it is because you are not working now and haven't tied up your next job or have graduated and not working yet and are not covered under any policy, then this article will tell you what your options are.

When you're working you are usually covered by your employer's health insurance but finding cheap health insurance or at least low cost or affordable health insurance plan can be a little harder to find. When this happens many people seek out short term health insurance policies.

A temporary short term health insurance policy may or may not be the answer for some people. It offers only basic coverage. This policy is only for a temporary period. They generally are for a six month period. When it expires you can buy another short term health insurance policy form the same company.

Short term policies can only be issued for a total of 365 days in a 555 day period. By taking out two polices, one after another, insurance companies will usually not cover you for any preexisting condition that happened during the first policy.

You need to know that any condition you had before you were issued a low cost short term health insurance policy may not be covered. These preexisting conditions include any symptoms you had that relate to want you want to file a claim for, injury, illness, or any treatment you received from in an emergency room, urgency clinic or doctor visit.

Short term health insurance policies are designed to help people with major medical expenses only. These cheap or low cost health insurance policies are attractive but will not cover the preexisting conditions mentioned above and also physical exams, immunizations, pregnancy, childbirth, heart or liver transplants, mental illness or drug addiction or any substance abuse.

Make sure to look over carefully the actual policy that would be issued by the health insurance company and pay attention to any of the exclusions. There can be quite a few. You want to know exactly what you'll be covered for. Preexisting conditions won't be covered even if you weren't seen by a physician. And if you take out a second short term policy it won't cover any treatment that was covered in the first short term policy - it will be considered a preexisting condition.

If you have had health problems in the past or anticipate that you might have in the future, you will likely fare better by taking out a long term low cost health insurance plan if at all possible rather the temporary short term health insurance policy. You can easily get a few free quotes at one time online with one click.

To save money with free low cost health insurance tips and find the best affordable health insurance online go to a nurse's website http://www.LowCostHealthInsuranceGuide.com for advice about getting several cheap health insurance quotes fast with one click