Individual/Family Health Insurance Article

Affordable Coverage Health Insurance: Easy as “ABC”

It’s not as difficult as you may think to find affordable coverage health insurance; just follow my “ABC” recommendations below.

A) Avoid benefits that look good on paper but don’t actually save you money
The first step to finding health insurance that meets your budget, steer clear of benefits that you won’t really save you that much money.  This may seem counterintuitive, but there are some health services that you may need from time to time but would prefer to not have covered as part of your health insurance plan. One example of this is the very popular $5 co-pay for physician’s office visits. This is one of those things which looks great on paper, but remember that this means that you’ll be paying a much higher monthly premium for your coverage - and office visits don’t tend to be all that costly. For instance if you purchased Anthem CoreShare Plus Virginia you would have a plan that has a low monthly premium, while covering you in case of major medical issues.

B) Buy only health coverage that you’ll actually use
The next trick we recommend is to avoid plans with benefits that you won’t really need or use. For example, if you’re a man, you can safely skip maternity coverage in your health insurance plan.

When you’re looking for affordable coverage health insurance, the same rule applies to other benefits. Another example is no-deductible coverage of brand name medications. Brand name drugs are far more costly than their generic equivalents. Particularly for young people who don’t need prescription drugs on a regular basis, it’s not usually worth the hundreds of dollars per month that this coverage can cost. If you do go for a health insurance plan which includes brand name medication coverage, try to find a plan that has a separate brand name drug deductible; this will cost you far less.

C) Consider a high deductible health coverage plan
Last but not least, look at affordable coverage health insurance plans which have a high deductible. A health insurance plan that has a high deductible will cost you far less in monthly premiums than will one with a low deductible. You will pay more out of pocket for medical expenses, but your monthly premiums will generally be much lower - enough to more than make up the difference in many cases.

Health insurance is all about avoiding financial ruin as a result of medical expenses. For the smaller health related expenses, you don’t really need your insurer to step in anyway. Think of it this way: you wouldn’t expect that your home insurance company would pay to fix a broken door knob! For that matter, you wouldn’t want to pay them hundreds a month for this benefit.  Instead, you want them to pay out the big bucks when your house burns down. Health insurance, by the same token, is there to cover the serious issues not maintenance. By following the ABC’s above, you’ll be able to be covered while keeping your health insurance costs reasonable.