Sound health is an indispensable feature of every individual’s life. No targets and success can be achieved if we are physically unwell. In order to safeguard this central aspect of our life, health insurance is the need of the hour.
Health insurance as we all know is the best way to secure your health against all expected and unexpected problems. Due to this almost every individual seeks to acquire a health insurance policy.
At present there are many companies offering health insurance. While going for a health insurance policy you will confront a choice between private and government insurance. Prior to opting for either policy, you should know that with a private health insurance you would have an access to luxurious private hospitals, wide range of private doctors to choose from and mostly immediate treatment. While in a government health insurance scheme the lifetime health cover penalizes people who take out health insurance later in life with higher premiums. If you take the policy after your 31st birthday you will be required to pay a 2% surcharge annually up to 70%. So for instance if you acquire the policy at the age of 50 you will have to pay 30% more than a person who joined at the age of 30.
Government health insurance policy also comes up with a Medicare levy surcharge according to which unmarried people earning more than $50k and married couples with or without children earning more than $100k will pay an extra 1% Medicare surcharge in addition to 1.5% Medicare levy most people pay. But this extra annual expenditure of $500 to $1000 can be avoided by opting for hospital insurance.
Premium plays a key role in choosing the kind of policy you want. Money can be saved on premium in various ways such as purchasing a policy with ‘excess’ or the money that an individual is required to pay for stay in a hospital before benefits are payable. You can also buy a policy that asks for a co-payment. In case of co-payment if you don’t go into hospital, the member decides to pay usually a fixed amount of money each time he avails the service. Choosing a policy that doesn’t include several treatment facilities is also an option to lower your premium rates. Besides this you can also buy a policy that only covers you as a private patient in a public hospital. However it is better and in the long run beneficial to take a policy that offers a high ‘excess’ in comparison to those that exclude several treatment conditions. Some commonly barred treatments are- cosmetic surgery, cataract surgery, rehabilitation, hip, knee and other joint replacements, obstetrics and birth related care, assisted reproduction and psychiatric care. In case you want coverage for any of these treatments, prior to purchasing make sure your policy includes it.
Finding an affordable health insurance policy can be a tricky thing these days. For one thing, what’s “affordable” for one person or family, may be completely out of reach for another. Also, there are many different factors to weigh when you’re looking for health insurance coverage. Let’s take a look at a few of these factors.
#1. Price - this is pretty much a no-brainer. You can either afford the policy or not. The best thing that you can do is to get several health insurance quotes. Set up a new email address specifically for this reason so you don’t get hammered in your primary email box and then simply sort through the quotes. You can do these anonymously with a fake phone number until you get a couple dozen (at least) that are in your price range. After doing this, contact them again directly and start asking specific questions about policy coverage.
#2. What does the policy cover? - Not all health insurance policies are created equal. As a matter of fact, some policies may not measure up to your needs at all. I watched an interview of Michael Moore, the director of the new movie “Sicko”, on “Larry King Live” recently and this topic was discussed in depth. You need to make certain that you have at least a minimum amount of coverage for lengthy hospitalization, ambulance and much, much more. You need to get a copy of what each policy actually covers and compare them against each other, while factoring in what coverage you’re getting for the price.
Finding affordable health insurance is no different than shopping for any other consumer product. You’ll want to know what it covers, how much it covers, what it does NOT cover (exclusions), what are the limitations of the policy and how much does it cost? There are, of course, other factors to look at, but this should give you some general guidelines in your search to find affordable health insurance.
The cost of health care has increased substantially over the past decade, so it should be no surprise that the cost of private medical insurance has followed suit. With premiums up from around annually to 18 according to Data Monitor, it is becoming harder for many people to afford private medical insurance at all.
There are ways to cut costs and still get quality cover and quality medical care, though. Here are a few suggestions for getting quality health insurance for you and your family on a budget.
Downgrade from comprehensive cover
If you’ve been paying for comprehensive PMI, you may reduce your costs by downgrading to a budget plan. There are a number of budget plan types available. One of the most common methods of reducing costs on PMI is to exclude cover for some types of treatments. Those treatments may include tests, complementary health care and psychiatric care. Exclusions are one way to cut costs t if you end up needing tests, scans or physical therapy, or any other type of treatment not covered, you could wind up paying far more out of your pocket than you would have paid for the extra cover.
Agree to a higher excess
Another popular way to lower premiums is to opt for a higher excess. You can lower your premiums by well over 50% if you choose to accept a high excess. If you do choose to take on a higher excess payment, be sure to check how the excess is charged. A per claim excess can wind up being far more expensive than a full cover excess.
Share the responsibility
A third way to cut the cost of your premiums is to share the cost of your medical expenses with your insurance provider. Rather than paying a fixed excess cost, you agree to pay a percentage of your treatment cost up to a predetermined cap.
Pay for your own treatment
A new class of payment type for private health care costs is to pay for your own expenses without insurance. There are private hospitals that offer fixed rate operations to allow you to shop around and budget for an operation rather than wait for your turn on the NHS.
Private treatment at NHS facilities
If you opt to pay your own medical expenses, one option to look into is using private facilities at NHS hospitals. The cost may be cheaper than the same treatment at a private hospital.
Employer based PMI
Check to find out if your employer offers PMI as a company benefit. Group rates for private health insurance are considerably cheaper than individual, so even if your employer requires you to make a contribution, it’s likely to save you a good amount of money on your health insurance policy.
Depending on the policy and the company, you may also be able to get cover for your spouse and children. In some of the larger companies, you may even be able to get cover if you have a pre-existing condition.
Shop around for the best deal
Comparison shopping will always get you the best deal, so do shop around and compare premiums. Ask for quotes from several insurance companies but be sure to know before hand what type and level of cover you want so you can compare like with like.
Do you want to save on your health insurance spend? Then you’ve come to the right article. I’ll show you a number of tips that will help you either get more affordable rates or reduce your cost in other ways…
1. Some persons are not poor enough to qualify for plans for low-income earner and as well have financial challenges that make standard policies costly. If you are among such people, you’ll benefit much if you get a discount medical card.
With these cards you are given medical attention from a network of doctors who have agreed to render services to card carriers at lower rates. This card is not issued by insurance companies.
It is as well a great choice for individuals with a pre-existing health condition that will disqualify them from most health insurance providers or make them pay very exorbitant premiums. This kind of card does not decline anyone for any reason.
Just make your monthly payments and you’ll use a network of doctors who will bill you less for their services.
2. You can lower your rates by avoiding alcoholic beverages. Alcoholics pay more for health insurance. You are aware that several ailments are caused heavy drinking.
What quantity of alcohol can you take without any side effect? I cannot advise you on that since I am not a specialist on such matters.
But here’s what I’m sure of: Staying away from alcohol in its totality will do you a world of good. If you cannot stay away totally, drink in moderation if you want to reduce your risk.
It is just that for most people drinking in moderation is even more difficult than quitting. You can be assisted if you really want to quit drinking.
3. If you’re married you will save by being on one policy. You have to go through your options though to see which gets you more savings. This is because depending on your details and health conditions, you may save more by buying two separate policies.
4. Don’t become shortchanged by the cheapest quote as you shop for low cost health insurance. You have to avoid a cheap quote that does not give you the desired value. You can get very cheap quotes that give you the quality you are after if you do your shopping extensively. Nevertheless, if you are required to pay little more for adequate coverage, then do so.
I say this because some cheap quotes could be so because they have much value to offer you. A health insurance package that gives inadequate coverage isn’t worth it even if it’s five times less than the quote that offers you the right coverage.
5. It is profitable to be loyal to the same insurer. Some insurers will give you discounts of about 5 percent once you stick to them for over 3 years while others will give you discounts for staying up to five years. The longer you stay with the same insurer, the more the discount you’re likely to be given.
6. You could save several hundreds or even a few thousand dollars by simply obtaining quotes from at least five insurance quotes sites. The entire process is quick, easy and free.
