Medical costs have been rising over the last several years, and have reached levels that an average middle class family cannot afford in the event of a major illness or accidents. With increase in medical facilities and better-equipped hospitals, this is perhaps inevitable, but that doesn’t make it less worrying if you are affected.

The best course open to individuals under these circumstances is to opt for medical insurance. The cost of medical insurance is high, and when you consider the fact that you don’t get much in return other than when an illness afflicts you, the cost of your medical insurance merits serious consideration. Fortunately, there is a way to resolve this dilemma. You can shop for the best possible combination of coverage and cost.

First of all, you could check out on the governmental and other help available to you in this regard. If you live in a country like the United States and are either elderly or very poor, the government comes to your aid through schemes like Medicare and Medicaid. If you are not covered by any such program, as most likely you are not, then what do you do?

The first step towards obtaining a low cost health insurance is to know what is being offered and how it is priced. Knowing the alternatives in terms of facilities and prices will help you to make decisions that can reduce your cost of medical insurance without compromising on your real requirements. Knowledge, in this case, is truly power and money. You could get this knowledge by doing some research on the Internet. There are a number of sites that offer you comparative information on medical insurance plans, which you can refer before finalizing your medical insurance coverage.

Learn about the different options available to you; research the company and the agent you are proposing to deal with; find out what you are covered for.

Some of the ways by which you can reduce your medical insurance costs are given below:

· Pay premiums annually. This will help you avoid or reduce the service fee and might also earn you discounts

· Review your policy regularly. Make sure that it covers your real requirements and does not have additional cover that you may not need. For example, additional coverage for pregnancy may not be really required for you and the normal coverage for this might be quite sufficient for your anticipated needs

· Keep a reasonable limit on the ceiling of medical expenditure in your policy. If you don’t have a ceiling or if you have a very high ceiling, you may be covering every eventuality but may also be paying higher for the coverage unnecessarily. Match the terms of the policy to your needs.

· If you have to file insurance claims, make sure that you keep all the documents available and know what you are covered for. In case you are not sure about whether a particular disease or treatment is covered. File your claim anyway

· Group plans are another way in which you can reduce your medical insurance costs. Find out about group plans and how they apply to you. See if your company, or member organization, such as your local Chamber of Commerce have a plan in place.

· Carry a higher deductible amount: The amount of expenditure that you opt to bear yourself has a great bearing on the medical insurance cost. If you are comparatively free from minor illnesses and you would like to be covered only for major illnesses, you can opt for a higher deductible reducing your premium without sacrificing the coverage you desire.

· If you discover a serious medical condition, it is better to continue with your existing insurer, as going to a new insurer will almost certainly increase your costs and will likely limit, or exclude, coverage for any pre-existing conditions.

· Avoid supplemental insurance. Supplemental insurance is a policy that gives you additional cash for the same illness that is covered by another insurance.



By: Robert Lawrence

Many children, families and adults qualify for free- or low-cost health insurance, and they don’t even know it! Your ability to get these state- and federally-sponsored medical programs is usually based on the size of your family and your income.

These programs vary state-by-state, so it’s important to check with your local government offices. However, many of the plans share similar qualifiers. Some groups of people that commonly qualify for low- or no-cost health coverage include:

1. Children and young adults under 19 years of age. Youth programs are common throughout the United States, and often include dental, vision and mental health or substance abuse counseling in addition to basic medical coverage. 2. Pregnant women. Available through Medicaid – and often through state departments of health – you can qualify depending on your income and family size. 3. Seniors 65 years of age and over. People in this category are usually covered by Medicare, a health insurance program of the federal government. 4. Disabled People. If you’re permanently disabled, there’s a good chance you can qualify for Medicare.

5. Immigrants Needing Emergency Care. If you have a medical emergency, you might be eligible for a state-funded Alien Emergency Medical Program (AEM) which can pay for your emergency care. To be eligible for most states’ AEMs, you must be low income, have an emergency medical condition, and be: under 18, or have dependent children, or be older than 64, or disabled, or pregnant. In addition, many states and sometimes the federal government will cover your costs for specific medical procedures and/or services. These programs are often partnerships between state health departments and national organizations like the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. These services might include things like: 1. Mammograms 2. Pap Smears 3. End-Stage Renal Disease 4. Birth Control As we’ve said before, programs like these vary state-by-state, so it’s important to check with your state or local health department.



By: Kurt Stammberger

If you live in the Commonwealth of Virginia and are looking for low cost health insurance, you and/or your children may be eligible for coverage under one or more of the three FAMIS health plans sponsored by the Commonwealth.

The three FAMIS (Families Access to Medical Insurance Security) plans are as follows:

FAMIS – The Children’s Health Insurance Program: This program for children covers services such as:

doctor visits

Well-baby checkups

Hospital visits

Vaccinations

Prescription medicine

Tests and x rays

Dental care

Emergency care

Vision care

Mental health care

FAMIS – Moms: This program provides health care for pregnant women up to two months after the pregnancy.

Smiles for Children: This program provides diagnostic, preventive, restorative/surgical procedures and orthodontics (Basically the same coverage as provided through Medicaid) Since this program is primarily for children, it provides limited necessary diagnostic/oral surgery services for adults (emergency only)

The beauty of this program is that the co-payments are only $2.00 or $5.00. Regular check-ups are free and there are no monthly premiums or enrollment costs. With Smiles for Children, there are no co-payments or cost for dental services. However, you must use dental providers that are within the network.

To qualify for any of the FAMIS programs the applicant must be a US citizen under 19 (for the Children’s program), live in Virginia and not covered by another plan. You must not have had insurance for 4 months and are not eligible for Medicaid. There are also income requirements. For example, the gross income for a family of 4 must not exceed $40,000 annually. The FAMIS website (http://www.famis.org ) has a family income calculator in which potential insureds may check their income to see if they qualify.

The Commonwealth of Virginia realizes that quality medical care is important, and has successfully provided a low cost health insurance program for their low income residents.



By: Greg Haehl

You may not be able to afford an expensive policy – but you can eliminate the frills that you don’t need. The death rate in any given year for an individual without health insurance is twenty-five per cent higher than for someone who has insurance. If you have always had a health insurance benefit wherever you work and especially if you were a state or federal employee and now have to buy your own, you may not be able to afford the level of coverage you had at one time.

Finding the best low cost health insurance is easier than most people think, especially now that we are able to go online for information and quotes. There are many individual and family health insurance plans available today in the US. It’s important to know what to look for in a good plan.

There is low cost health insurance for every budget. As with any type of insurance, it’s always a gamble, that is, gambling that you’ll take out more than you’re paying in and your insurance company is gambling that they will pay out less.

In the old days you had to physically visit ten agents to compare insurance rates, which was very time-consuming; getting low cost health insurance quotes online is fast. It’s a fact that because the uninsured are sicker than the rest of us, they can’t get better jobs, and because they can’t get better jobs they can’t afford, and because they can’t it they get even sicker.

You can easily charge your payments to a credit card for online insurance which means you aren’t going to forget a payment and ever be without insurance and gives you another 30 days before you actually need to pay. Also you don’t have to tap your bank account as we’ve always had to do in the past when credit cards weren’t accepted. One nice advantage of buying health insurance online is you can change your coverage, deductibles, or payment options with a few clicks of the mouse rather than going through a paperwork delay with a local agent. So finding the best insurance is easy to do online.

Children who don’t have health insurance are less likely to receive medical attention for serious injuries, for recurrent ear infections, or for asthma, for example. Heart attack victims without it are less likely to receive angioplasty and other procedures. The death rate in any given year for someone without it is twenty-five per cent higher than for someone with insurance.

Although it does increase your risk, one way to lower your costs is to set a higher deductible. If you’re in good health you’ll likely come out ahead, barring an unforeseen accident, etc. Another way to lower your cost is to eliminate the coverage that you’ll not likely need such as maternity coverage. Also there are several providers that offer cheap health insurance with low cost premiums for single people also. But, more importantly, you want a company that has a good track record for paying claims, without fighting you on every little detail. You want to avoid having to face a $100,000 open heart surgery without having any insurance.

The market for health insurance plans is very much developed in the US. With a bit of online research and understanding on your part, you can easily get low cost insurance. With the rise of medical insurance costs, most people look for low cost premiums that will ensure quality medical attention at the time of need, but still at a price they can afford. You should be able to find a low cost health insurance plan that meets your medical requirements as well as your financial situation.

Insurance companies have to be very competitive because it’s quick and easy to compare them with other companies on the Internet today. There are many options available too. For people without pre-existing conditions or other complicating factors, a simple health insurance plan with a high deductible may be the way to go. So the best way to get free low cost health insurance quotes is to go online.



By: Helen Hecker