Health insurance is an expensive, but necessary item these days. Cheap health insurance can be found, but sometimes it at the expense of your coverage. Do you know how to shop for insurance, and what to look for when comparing policies?
Well, if you don’t know that, then read on. As I said, cheap health insurance can be found, but you need to remember the saying ‘you get what you pay for’. While that’s not always exactly the case, often times it turns out that way. When you start shopping for cheap health insurance, or at least for cheaper health insurance, you need to pay close attention to what the policies cover, what their limitations are, and what their age limits for coverage are.
Here’s where you want to start. Take a look at your family history. If more than just one or two cases of an illness (diabetes, cancer, hypertension, high blood-pressure, etc.) pop up in your family, then you should seriously consider making sure that your new policy covers that, and that it has a high limit for payment on whatever illness that may be. Cancer especially is very expensive to treat.
That being said, next take a look at your own health. Do you have any pre-existing conditions? Will the company you’re looking at cover them? If you have an irregular heart beat caused by angina, and you select a cheap health insurance provider simply because they are a CHEAP health insurance provider, you could be in trouble. You need to make sure they cover pre-existing conditions; especially since you already know it’s going to cause you trouble someday.
Your next step is to select no less than 3 health insurance providers. Tell them flat out that you’re looking for cheap health insurance, and ask them to send you information on some of their lower cost plans. At this point, most insurance companies will send you information on three to five different plans. Sit down and look them over VERY CAREFULLY! Start with the items we’ve identified above (family history and pre-existing conditions). If those aren’t covered, scratch that plan off the list. Next, compare prices and other features of the plans. If one plan has no co-pay, but costs you $75 a month more, is it worth it? That depends on how often you go to the doctor, but I’d say no. I’d rather pay a $10 co-pay four times a year and save the $860 difference for vacation.
Whatever you choose, make sure that you don’t get a cheap health insurance company that is cheap specifically because they cover nothing. Study your options, and pay attention to the fine print. Then it’s a matter of choosing based on your needs.