Family Health Articles » health insurance companies

How many are uninsured?

admin — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:13:24 +0000

In 2007, before we were hit by the credit crunch, the wave of foreclosures and the loss of jobs, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that 47m people have no health insurance. That’s a rise of almost 5% as against the estimated number of uninsured made in 2005. So what does this actually mean? The results confirm that these people have no health insurance plan through their work (including the military) or union membership, and no access to federal or state programs including Medicare and Medicaid at any time during a twelve month period. This reflects a growing reality that the average employer no longer offers health insurance benefits. As a result, the statistics show 10.8% of whites, 15.5% of Asians, 20.5% of African -Americans, 34.1% of Hispanics were uninsured. It also confirms the sad reality that nearly 12% of children had no insurance in 2006. Now, ignoring the politics and focussing on the practical realities, there are two reactions. You can give up on the search for affordable health insurance and wait until the problem becomes sufficiently severe to justify treatment at your local emergency room. It is pointless making any judgemental comments about exposing yourself and others to the risk of more serious injury by delaying treatment. If the premiums demanded by the health insurance industry are always going to be outside your budget, this is not your fault. If anyone or anything is to blame, it is the political system that permits a for-profit system to operate in the health market. Once you introduce the profit motive into any service, costs rise to maintain or maximise profits. Numbers in the accounts maintained by the hospitals and insurance companies do not translate into the faces of the children who are denied treatment. Most CEOs sleep well at night. Alternatively, you can use this site and others like it to get comparative quotes. Then use every legitimate way of reducing the quoted premiums. Start with a family plan because the cost per individual member is usually less than the cost of one policy per family member. You should also look at term insurance. The rates are usually less than for equivalent cover under a permanent policy. This means spending time actually talking with the health insurance companies and their agents. Only when you talk to people and ask the right questions about discounts and the different types of plan and policy, do you begin to find something affordable. The more passive you are, the more impossible it becomes to get access to lower rates. As one of the middle class, you may come more easily to this process. But no matter what your background, you need to overcome your fears and start negotiating the best deal for your family. If this is too daunting, do not let pride get in the way. Ask at your local church or a charity for someone to help.

Family health insurance policies

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:38:15 +0000

When you’re young and in good health, you often live for the now. Some have the qualifications to find employment including health insurance in the compensation package, but most take what is available and let things drift until responsibilities come along. Then you start asking questions about what you want in the future. It starts with a partnership or marriage. It gets more urgent when children appear on the scene.

If you found a job with a health insurance package, you can usually add your new partner or spouse to the plan. The first issue is whether that plan gives all the cover you need. Should there be gaps, you buy top-up cover. Then as the family grows, does the plan include children and any other dependents? Overnight, you become experts in the detail of the employer’s plan and carefully research what the private health insurance companies offer to give the additional cover.

If your job has no health plan, but one of you had the wisdom to begin a private health policy, it is usually possible to upgrade to a family policy. Because you have track record with a company, this is less of a hassle than finding a completely new company for the family.

If you’re starting with no health cover, you will find there are major differences in the premiums quoted. Through sites like this, you get instant quotes from multiple health insurance companies. By using two or three sites like this, you can rapidly accumulate a daunting array of information about different policies and quoted prices. This makes choosing the right cover a real challenge. The first step is take a cold-blooded look at the family finances. This is not a time for sentimentality or blind hope. You need hard figures on what you can afford to pay not just now, but in the foreseeable future. Remember your credit score drops if you start a policy and then find you cannot afford the premiums.

The next step is to decide exactly who is to be included in the policy and what range of cover you want – just basic treatment options working up to long-term care insurance. Remember the larger the group and the wider the age range of the people to be included, the more the premium is likely to be. The more conditions, illnesses and injury possibilities you add, the more expensive the policy is likely to be. This drives you back to your financial calculations. The way to lower the premiums is to accept a higher deductible or copayments. But this needs a careful calculation. How much will you pay each year as self-insurance through the deductibles or expenses, against the saving in the annual premium. Weigh the benefits against foreseeable costs to make the right decision on which family health insurance policy to buy.

Comparing policies saves you dollars

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:36:02 +0000

This last few months has seen all the prices of basic necessities rise. As jobs have come under pressure, the purchasing power of the average household has dropped. Nowhere has the family budget come under greater pressure than with health insurance. All too often, the premiums have been raised (again). This forces yet another tense discussion. Are families to gamble with the health of their children or can other savings be found?

Sad to say, this discussion is no longer restricted to low-income families. A significant number of middle class families are also being forced to make ever more difficult decisions. Decisions to delay diagnosis and treatment until the sickness can be classed as an emergency and justify a hospital visit. If people are to stay insured, they must accept the best terms they can afford. Fortunately, online sites such as this allow people to get comparative information from multiple health insurance companies.

Making the choice from the maximum possible number of quotes gives the best chance of savings. So how should you approach this task?

Before you start, write down a list of all the features you would like to see in your ideal policy. This gives you a shopping list to price as you go along. It will almost certainly be too expensive, but it gives you a good starting point.
Always compare quotes on like-for-like policies. If you use several sites to get the maximum spread of quotes, keep notes to ensure you use the same basic set of information about the policy you are seeking, the level of deductibles accepted, and so on.
Never make a decision purely on the premium quoted. Although this is the headline you see first, the devil is in the detail of each policy. You have to be determined and read through all the terms (even the small print). It’s vital that you get a clear picture of what is included and excluded, and see what conditions you have to fulfil to make a claim. Even more important is whether you have a right to renew the policy if you make a claim or you are found to have a disorder or disease that is going to be expensive to treat. There is nothing more devastating than to be diagnosed with a chronic illness and then find your insurance premium hiked up to unaffordable levels or renewal declined.
If there is anything you do not understand, ask an agent. Before you accept a quote, insurance companies are helpful and explain things. If you delay asking until you make a claim, this only leads to disappointment and dispute. Take the decision to buy on the basis of the best available information.

By following this simple set of rules, you’re taking more positive control of your future, and there’s nothing more important than health to give you peace of mind.

Emergencies? What emergencies?

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:33:21 +0000

Well, the good news is that you do have a health insurance plan. So many people today are finding it too difficult to keep their insurance in place. The bad news is that it may still be difficult to get treatment. Huh? Well, accidents and sickness don’t always strike at the most convenient times. Because there’s a shortage of physicians prepared to work in general practice, it’s often difficult to get a same or next day appointment. Worse, getting access to your physician at night or over the weekend can be next to impossible. Too many prefer working conventional office hours and will not offer a service “out of hours”.

This leaves you with self-treatment or one of the alternatives. Starting in drugstores and now spreading, there are a new run of walk-in retail clinics staffed by nurse practitioners. These are open 24/7 and offer basic treatment for non-threatening conditions for a set fee. An increasing number of health insurance companies cover visits to these clinics for a modest copayment. If your injuries or sickness are more serious, you can try one of the urgent-care centers/clinics. These are staffed by physicians but their opening times are limited to nights and weekends. They are not open 24/7! But, as with the retail clinics, more health insurance companies will cover a visit for a copayment.

Why is the emergency room the last on this list? There are two main causes. The first is that waiting times are growing ever longer in hospitals as more people head in there for treatment. If this is not a major emergency, you will get treatment faster in an urgent-care center. More importantly, the copayments required in a hospital tend to start at $100 and go up. Big warning: if you go to an emergency room and your health insurer does not classify your problem as an emergency, you have to pay the whole bill for treatment.

It is always better to be safe than sorry. But it’s not an emergency if you have a throat infection or your chest is wheezing. Minor skin problems, bug bites or problems in sleeping will not be covered. If you do have a chronic condition, the symptoms must have significantly worsened if this is to be an emergency. It’s almost impossible to count having a prescription refilled as an emergency. You can always learn more about health insurance features and get online quotes in the web.