The number one thing that you can do to make sure that you get the best price for your health care insurance plan isn't to shop around or to select the right plan. The most important thing is to stay healthy. If you don't meet the health qualifications for a plan with a good rate, the other important things become moot.
Your present health and accident insurance company cannot cancel your health plan simply because your health took a turn for the worse after you applied. However, chances are, you will need another medical insurance plan at some point in the future. If you do and if that insurance policy is underwritten the will look at your state of health and medical history very carefully before they decide whether or not to insure you.
Every medical insurance company has price increases, but not all the price increases are equal. The health plan you have at the present time may have a larger percentage increase than the plan of another carrier. At some point you may want to switch to a cheaper health and accident insurance policy, but may not be able to because of your health.
Every few years insurance companies will retire certain policy series to new clients. With no new healthy clients coming in to offset the older clients who are starting to develop medical problems, these retired plans go up in price faster than plans open to new clients.
Those clients who want to get another policy that is experience less steep price increases will need to be healthy in order to switch to a new policy.
The second most important thing is to shop around. You can compare policies from different companies by visiting multiple medical insurance websites or you can find one that works with all or most of the health insurance carriers in your area.
When shopping around, the financial strength of an insurance company is more important than whether or not the company is well-known. Many of the high profile companies are excellent, however, you shouldn't rule out lesser known companies that are financially stable and if they offer good plans and have a network of doctors and hospitals that will serve you well.
Very often there is a major difference in price for similar policies offered by different carriers. Some of the cost difference may have to do with the method they use to calculate their rates. For example a company that charges a flat rate for families may offer a better rate to a large family than a carrier that charges more for each person. In many instances a difference in price is not caused by a difference in quality.
The third most important thing is to understand how each insurance policy works so that you can compare them. You should know what a deductible is and what deductible each health plan has. You should also know if there are co-pays or coinsurance and how each works with each medical policy.
Unless you understand the major parts of a insurance policy, you cannot compare them well. Also it is important that you consider moderate deductible and possibly high deductible plans. Often these policies are priced low enough that it makes sense to pay the higher deductible.
Do what you can to stay in good shape. This can mean halved premiums if you ever need to switch policies. Shop around for coverage either by looking at different options on your own or by working with a broker who will check your rates with various companies. Make sure you know how your policy works before you get it. Stragies like the above may allow you to keep some of the money otherwise spent on medical care and medical insurance.
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