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Health Insurance Basics

What to Know Before You Buy

Purchasing health insurance coverage may be the most important things you do for yourself and your family. Signing up for the proper coverage that best suits your needs is vital to how your insurance will work for you. There are numerous insurance plans, providers, options, and pricing plans out there, and there are some things you should consider before deciding on one of them.

Affordable Health Insurance
As a rule of thumb, purchase the best coverage that you can afford to pay for. It's common opinion that a higher grade of coverage is well worth the money spent, but there is no sense in choosing coverage that you will not be able to afford in the short or long run. Buying health coverage that is too expensive for you can result in loss of coverage due to non-payment of the premium. If you can afford a higher quality plan, buy it, but otherwise it's better to have a lesser plan and have the security of always being able to pay your premiums. Any insurance is better than no insurance.

Shop and Compare
If you work for a company who offers group health insurance plans, it may be the best deal you can find. Most often, insurance plans through employers are either HMO or PPO plans. These plans are often less expensive to the insured because the employer may offset some of the costs, and a group package for the entire company may come with certain discounts from the provider. These plans are often just fine for many people, but they also tend to be sort of "cookie cutter" plans. They usually have extensive limitations, including but not limited to what doctors you can see, what types of prescriptions you can use, and much more. Before deciding on your employer's health insurance plan, you owe it to yourself to shop around and see what's out there.

Here are some of the many types of health insurance plans available:

• HMO - Health Maintenance Organization
• PPO - Preferred Provider Organization
• POS - Point of Service
• HSA - Health Savings Account (also known as MSA)
• MSA - Medical Savings Account (also known as HSA)
• Traditional Indemnity

Traditional indemnity is becoming less and less common, and is also becoming more costly than most other plans available.

What Coverage will You Need?
Every person has a different situation and place in life. This means that no one insurance plan will work for everybody. When shopping for insurance, you must consider many aspects, such as:

• Are you single, young, just getting started out in the world?
• Are you married? Planning to start a family?
• Do you need to have all medical and office visits covered by your insurance?
• Do you require coverage for prescriptions?

If you are young and single, you probably only need coverage for yourself. Chances are, you'll only need a small amount of medical attention in a given year. However, if you are going to have children, you'll need both maternity and child coverage, including post-natal care and immunizations. Be sure to consider your current and future insurance needs before committing to a plan.

Where Can You go for Medical Care?
Do you currently have a physican? Do you wish to keep your current doctors or still go to the same hospital, even if you get a new insurance plan? Make sure your doctors and hospitals are part of your provider network when looking at a particular plan. For example, if you've been going to the same obstetrician for years and are very happy with your doctor, you would definetely want to make sure that he or she is part of your new plan's network. This is a common issue that people encounter, especially when switching to an HMO.

Other Limitations in Coverage
Another point to consider is pre-existing conditions. Certain insurance plans may come with limitations regarding your current health status. There are some insurance plans which place restrictions regarding new clients with pre-existing health conditions. Some of these restrictions include waiting periods before coverage begins, higher premiums, higher copays, etc.

Be a Smart Consumer
Before signing any health insurance policy, be sure to read and understand every page. Ask questions if you don't fully understand any aspect of the policy. Be sure that you are buying what you think you're buying, and be sure that you know all costs and coverage involved. It is also considered wise to pay with a check as opposed to cash. This creates another record of your purchase, and tends to deter those shady dealers out there who might be trying to run some sort of scam, or simply do whatever it takes to "make a sale", even if it means deceiving you somehow.

To conclude, it is of utmost importance that you are getting the right plan for your needs. Talk to your health insurance agent and find a plan that suits you.

• Coverage
• Cost
• Limitations