7 Smart steps to reduce your health insurance cost

Health insurance costs are ever rising. Many people have gone without health coverage in the given market situation. But you can still stay covered but at a reduced rate by following some simple tips of cost reduction. This write-up has discussed the ways one can reduce the cost of health insurance without sacrificing the coverage aspect.

Few tips to lower the expense on health policies

Check the coverage type: Check if you really need the coverage that you have. Some policies can have expensive riders which are redundant and can be dispensed off.

Switch to manage care plan: If you are currently on an indemnity plan, you may consider switching to a managed care where the cost would be much less even for the same level of coverage.

Consider a high deductible plan: Increasing the amount of out-pocket-expenses by increasing the deductible level can help in cost reduction. Look for Health Saving Account (HSA) qualified High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP). It is also said that high deductible plans would encourage people in using their health plans more wisely.

Look for state programs: States often have subsidized health programs to help with income constraints to receive health care. See if you too can get benefited from some of these programs.


Join group health insurance: Group health policies are cheaper than individual health plan. Also, group health policy providers can’t discriminate amongst the enrollees based on their health status thus making it particularly beneficial for people with health issues.

Join the wellness programs: Some health carriers would give incentives in terms of lower prices to people joining the wellness camps.

Adopt healthier lifestyle: Smokers and obese are required to pay more than the standard rates. Hence, by adopting a healthier lifestyle you can keep your health insurance costs under control.

Apart from these above points, one should also shop around for lower rates. Compare the costs of different carriers before deciding on the health policy. You can also contact an agent who can get you quotes from different health insurance providers.

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When you need temporary health insurance

Many states allow health insurance companies to offer the public temporary health coverage to meet short-term needs (such as covering a person who’s between jobs or a college student who isn’t covered by student health insurance during the summer). Coverage is usually available in increments of 30, 60, 90, 120, and sometimes 180 days, and it’s usually quite good — typically, temporary policies have a coverage limit of $1 million or more, and they usually include freedom of choice and a maximum amount on out-of-pocket expenses.

The biggest advantage to a temporary policy is that you can qualify with almost no medical questions asked. Coverage can be immediate, if needed. But temporary coverage has several disadvantages:
✓ Preexisting conditions aren’t covered. If you’ve ever been treated for
a condition in the past, you won’t be covered if the condition flares up again.
✓ The insurance is usually not renewable.
✓ When the coverage period you’ve chosen ends, so does the coverage often, even if you’re lying seriously ill in the hospital.
✓ Claim payments are often delayed.
✓ Coverage outside the country is often excluded.
Because of these major limitations, you generally want to avoid buying temporary insurance unless you have no other option. If you’re between jobs, continue your group coverage from your prior employer under COBRA if you can. And for summer coverage for college students, keep them continuously insured all year round under your family plan.

In one situation, temporary coverage makes sense — when you’re applying for individual coverage and you currently have no insurance. You complete an application and pay a premium to apply for individual coverage. If the insurance company approves you, it’ll generally issue your policy retroactively, if you desire, effective on the date you applied. If, while your application was pending, you were hospitalized or incurred other medical bills, those bills would be covered. But what if the company declines your application? You would be uninsured for any bills that you’d accumulated since you applied, even if the medical conditions were new.

Even after you apply for individual coverage and pay the initial premium, you’re not necessarily covered. Only if the company later approves you a process that normally takes 30 to 60 days — will you have been covered since the date of your application. That’s a long time to risk being uninsured.
Here’s how you can use short-term coverage to protect yourself when you have no insurance and while your application for long-term coverage is being considered:

1. Buy a 60-day short-term policy to be assured of insurance coverage for any new medical condition or injury that occurs while your long-term application is being considered.
2. Apply simultaneously for long-term coverage, requesting an effective date, if approved, for 60 days from now to coincide perfectly with the expiration of your short-term policy.
Then, if your long-term policy application is rejected, you at least had coverage for new conditions while your application was being reviewed. Without the short-term coverage, the new medical problems would have been totally uninsured.

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When you can’t get health insurance

If you or a family member for whom you’re responsible has a health condition for which you can’t get insurance (in other words, you’ve been rejected for individual coverage), you need to broaden your way of looking at the problem. Very few people can’t get health insurance for a medically uninsurable condition if they’re willing to make some life changes. Over the years, I’ve read numerous horror stories about families who have suffered financial ruin because of one family member’s medical expenses. I remember one story in particular about a family who lost their insurance because of a job change. The new job didn’t offer group insurance, and their son was uninsurable. He had an ongoing condition that required years of treatment and thousands of dollars of expenses. According to the story, this family sat helplessly while their life savings dwindled to nothing. You want to know the truly sad part? I believe that their financial ruin could have been prevented if they had considered some other choices.

Getting paid to work out
How would you like to get paid cold hard cash to work out regularly? It would certainly be a little easier to crawl out of the sack at 5:30 a.m. on those cold winter mornings, wouldn’t it? Many health insurance companies are starting to give monthly credits of around $20 per month toward your health club membership if you can document that you work out at least 12 times a month. Check with your insurance company and see if it offers this deal, or just check with your club to see if your insurance company participates.
If you’re willing to take one or more of the following actions, you can prevent a financial catastrophe from happening to you because of an uninsured family member:
✓ If your employer doesn’t offer group coverage, talk to them about starting to offer a group plan. Enlist the support of your coworkers. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requires insurance companies to accept all members of a group, regardless of health. If your employer adds group health insurance coverage, the worst-case scenario is that the condition won’t be covered for the first 12 months.
1.Change employers. Get a job with a company that offers group medical coverage to its employees and their families.
2.If you’re in a state that has a major medical insurance plan for uninsurable people, sign up immediately. Call your state insurance department to find out.
3.Move to a state that offers catastrophic individual major medical coverage for uninsurable citizens. Minnesota, where I live, has such a plan, and so do many other states.
You may balk at the idea of doing something as seemingly drastic as changing jobs or moving to a different state in order to get health insurance for yourself or a sick family member. But from my perspective, those are far better alternatives than complete financial ruin.
Dread disease insurance: Just say If this story happened today instead of a few years ago, the new HIPAA law have guaranteed this family — at the time the group coverage at the
prior job was ending — the right to an individual policy regardless of health. And if certain conditions were met, the insurance would have covered their son’s preexisting medical condition immediately.

Taken from: Insurance for Dummies:Jack Hungelmann's

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How to choose the right and cheap health insurance

Health is the most important thing in our lives. Therefore, people take a variety of ways to maintain and health care. Even people looking for health insurance to support and ensure their health. Moreover, the cost of care and treatment of disease increasingly soar.
With the health insurance program means you have shifted the risk to other parties. Risk transferred to it, you have to pay a premium depending on the risk transferred and who want the benefits obtained. However, you still have choose the right insurance that does not suffer later. Here we present some tips that you can see before taking a decision to follow the health insurance.

Accountability and Track Record
Lately considerable spread of health insurance (eg aromatherapy) are offered through the credit card providers (Issuer). That is, other than a direct quote from health insurance companies, there is also offering health insurance through credit card organizer (Issuer). Offered to card holders benefit from health insurance and direct premiums charged to card holders via credit card.
At this point you should look at what benefits the insurance company provided. Does the insurance company that works with the credit card issuer is a bona fide and have experience? Not until, when you are sick and make a claim, the process is even more difficult. Even difficult for you. So, to choose the health insurance companies, at least there are two things to note, accountability and his track record and offer advantages compared to the premiums charged to you.

Savings and Investment
Health insurance services is now very varied. In addition to offering financial guarantees when ill, there is combining it with certain services. For example, premiums paid in part shall be applied as a savings or investment. Of course this offer attractive. But insurance premiums are usually offered will also be given greater or health food.
In addition, those who actually join the insurance program at a young age will get some ease. For example, no medical examination required. Please note that insurance premiums will increase with increasing age of the customer. So, register yourself on health insurance when he was young.

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