Remember that insurance is all about risk. You will automatically pay less for health insurance if you are healthy and take care of yourself because you are less of a risk to the insurance company.
I've been away from health insurance for while but I don't think this applies to large group health insurance. To my knowledge they don't rate individuals in anyway.
Keep in mind that you will have to pay portions of some health and medical services out-of-pocket. Most health insurance plans require a deductible or copayment of some kind.
I think more and more companies are going toward Health Spending Accounts in conjunction with a High Deductible Health Plan:
'A Health Savings Account is an alternative to traditional health insurance; it is a savings product that offers a different way for consumers to pay for their health care. HSAs enable you to pay for current health expenses and save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis.
You must be covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) to be able to take advantage of HSAs. An HDHP generally costs less than what traditional health care coverage costs, so the money that you save on insurance can therefore be put into the Health Savings Account.
You own and you control the money in your HSA. Decisions on how to spend the money are made by you without relying on a third party or a health insurer. You will also decide what types of investments to make with the money in the account in order to make it grow."
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 07:53 pm Post Subject: health insurance
Ultimately when you purchase insurance you are looking to protect yourself from large out of pocket medical expenses. Medical costs are inflating at an astounding rate and one can rack up a 20k hospital bill for a simple out patient surgery.
One important thing to concider that was not mentioned by the origional poster is that you need to watch out for is the annual max out of pocket. With most group or individual health plans you will have copays deductibles and coinsurances. It is important that the plan you choose has a max out of pocket amount you will have to pay at the level that you can afford. For example, if you have a deductible of 2500 and a copay of 100 and a coinsurance of 20 percent with a 100k hospital bill. You would have to pay approximatley 20% of the 100k plus your 2500 deductible and your copay. Thats about $23000 that you would be billed. This is a big chunk of change and is enough to bankrupt some people. If you had an annual maximum out of pocket limit of $3000 than you would only pay $3000 rather than $23000 Before you make a decision on your health insurance be sure you understand what your out of pocket costs will be including your co insurance and annual out of pocket maximum
Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 11:28 pm Post Subject:
Remember that insurance is all about risk. You will automatically pay less for health insurance if you are healthy and take care of yourself because you are less of a risk to the insurance company.
I've been away from health insurance for while but I don't think this applies to large group health insurance. To my knowledge they don't rate individuals in anyway.Keep in mind that you will have to pay portions of some health and medical services out-of-pocket. Most health insurance plans require a deductible or copayment of some kind.
I think more and more companies are going toward Health Spending Accounts in conjunction with a High Deductible Health Plan:'A Health Savings Account is an alternative to traditional health insurance; it is a savings product that offers a different way for consumers to pay for their health care. HSAs enable you to pay for current health expenses and save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis.
You must be covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) to be able to take advantage of HSAs. An HDHP generally costs less than what traditional health care coverage costs, so the money that you save on insurance can therefore be put into the Health Savings Account.
You own and you control the money in your HSA. Decisions on how to spend the money are made by you without relying on a third party or a health insurer. You will also decide what types of investments to make with the money in the account in order to make it grow."
Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 07:53 pm Post Subject: health insurance
Ultimately when you purchase insurance you are looking to protect yourself from large out of pocket medical expenses. Medical costs are inflating at an astounding rate and one can rack up a 20k hospital bill for a simple out patient surgery.
One important thing to concider that was not mentioned by the origional poster is that you need to watch out for is the annual max out of pocket. With most group or individual health plans you will have copays deductibles and coinsurances. It is important that the plan you choose has a max out of pocket amount you will have to pay at the level that you can afford. For example, if you have a deductible of 2500 and a copay of 100 and a coinsurance of 20 percent with a 100k hospital bill. You would have to pay approximatley 20% of the 100k plus your 2500 deductible and your copay. Thats about $23000 that you would be billed. This is a big chunk of change and is enough to bankrupt some people. If you had an annual maximum out of pocket limit of $3000 than you would only pay $3000 rather than $23000 Before you make a decision on your health insurance be sure you understand what your out of pocket costs will be including your co insurance and annual out of pocket maximum
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