Group and Private Insurance

Many people want to know what is the average price of medical insurance in a given area. This information is probably not very useful since age and medical history have such a big influence on health insurance pricing. If you to want know what health insurance will cost YOU and what is best health insurance for YOUR family, that information is readily available. You can request health insurance quotes and get an answer instantly in some areas and very quickly in others.

Average Health Insurance Prices Go Up In Hard Times

The average cost for health insurance is rising very rapidly. Unfortunately, it can rise even faster during a recession. This is because a higher percentage of medical bills go unpaid than they would in better times. Hospitals and doctors continue to treat many of these people due to the Hippocratic Oath, their own sense of what is right and not incidentally certain government mandates. They then have to pass these unpaid costs on to their paying customers. This means the insured patients pay more for their medical insurance coverage.

This May Be Unfair to the Insured

Yes, this may be unfair but this is the way it is at this time and unless the answer to the question "what is the future of individual health insurance?" is much different than what I predict, this will continue for a long time. Health insurance prices go up because we get older. They go up when new procedures are approved. Medical insurance prices go up when new laws are passed that mandate more coverage.

How to Lower Your Medical Insurance Costs

The average cost of medical insurance may be going up and there may be little you can do about it. However, your personal costs don’t have to rise as quickly as everyone else’s.

Here are a few suggestions that have helped a lot of our clients lower their medical expenses:

• Eliminate unneeded medical coverage
• Consider eliminating dental insurance
• Consider High Deductible Health Plans
• Get Healthier
• Shop Around

Eliminate Unneeded Medical Coverage

Often we find that families are paying too much for their coverage because they are paying for coverages that they no longer need or that they never needed. Maternity insurance is probably the most costly coverage that people carry after they no longer need it. It pays to review your coverage and make sure that you still need all the optional coverages.

Consider Eliminating Dental Insurance

Dental insurance, especially when you purchase it directly is often more expensive than it is worth. There are often waiting periods and annual caps and other limitations that make this coverage a bad buy. Take a good look at your dental insurance policy and see if you think it is worth your hard earned money.

Consider High Deductible Health Plans

Raising your deductible does mean that you are increasing your exposure. However, in many cases you increase your exposure by a smaller amount than the decrease in premium. You’ll have to do a little math to see if it is worthwhile to raise your deductible, but for many people it is. In Connecticut we find that purchasing an HSA compatible plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield with High Deductible is often much better and less expensive than a low deductible co-pay plan even if a client has a lot of medical expenses.

The true cost of your health insurance policy is not just the amount of the premiums, but the cost of your deductible and other cost shares. We find in many cases, that even when you add in those additional costs, the total for a high deductible plan is less than the cost of other policies.

You should ask yourself will be the cost of this policy plus the cost of unreimbursed expenses if I have

1. No expenses or just preventative care medical expenses
2. Moderate medical expenses
3. Catastrophic expenses

You may be very surprised when you do the math. What is the meaning of insurance premium or the value of comparing insurance premiums without also looking at the potential of unreimbursed costs?

You will probably find that medical insurance plans with moderate to high deductibles will suit your family better than low deductible plans.

Get Healthier

You may be charged more for health insurance because of your weight or the fact that you smoke. If either of the above is true, you may find that lowering your weight or lowering your cancer risk will lower your premiums. I know that this is much easier to type than to do, but please consider it. There is more at stake than lower medical insurance costs.

Shop Around

Medical insurance costs can vary quite a lot from carrier to carrier. Shop around, but make sure that you only purchase quality coverage from reputable companies.

You may find that by selecting the right plan and the right options YOUR average monthly cost for health insurance goes down substantially.