Small businesses are always encouraged to offer health insurance to their employees. With the implementation of healthcare reforms, this conviction has got a new boost. Small businesses are offered tax credit if they offer health insurance to their employees. Admittedly, small business owners are concerned about the costs that could be substantial if they are to offer health insurance to their employees. In this article, we will discuss how small business owners could reduce the costs.
1. Small business owners should try to keep their employees healthy. This will have a direct impact on the health insurance premium when the plans would be offered. Wellness programs could be of great help to achieve this objective.
2. Small business owners can agree to offer basic coverage and ask the employees to share the costs if they need some specific medical care coverage. Excluding dental and vision insurance could be a good idea.
3. Small business owners should ask their employees to open health savings accounts. This is a very good way of saving costs.
4. Small business owner should offer health insurance plans in large groups so as to minimize the risk and therefore the costs.
5. With such boost given to the small businesses, it is wise to shop around to get better prices. The competition has certainly increased and small business owners could take the advantage of this in a constructive manner.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Reducing costs on student health insurance in US
With the health reforms getting implemented, students in America do not have to worry about accessing individual health plans. The Affordable Care Act now permits students to stay in their parents’ policies till the age of 26, the only exceptions being: 1. The student is married
2. Is living or studying in a place outside the area of coverage of the parents’ plan.
3. Does not have access to affordable insurance at work.
It is in situations like these that students have to have individual policies of their own. And the exorbitant cost of the premiums is often the biggest hindrance. Low cost health plans are the best option for students. Here is how students can access health plans that do not have costly premiums:
- Universities and colleges often offer discounted health plans to their students. These are often cheaper than regular individual plans
- Some health carriers have health plans specially designed for students. These offer comprehensive coverage at affordable prices.
- Insurance carriers come up with special offers and discounts at times. Students can avail health plan during then.
- Individual health plans that have high deductibles have a low premium. For students who are in the prime of their health, these plans are also an ideal way to lower down the costs.
- Specialized plans that are valid only for a specific period of time or only for particular medical conditions are also good cheap health insurance options.
- Managed healthcare plans like HMO and PPO offer primary, preventive and yet comprehensive healthcare services at reasonable costs.
- Students can also apply for government sponsored Medicaid if they cannot afford health plans at any costs.
Students often stay away from health insurance as they see it as a wasteful expenditure. The fact they are in the prime of their health adds to their confidence. But staying away from medical coverage in US could lead to medical bankruptcy. Therefore students in the country should ensure that they have medical coverage either on their own or through their parents.
What to look for affordable health insurance in California
• The main point to look for in an affordable health insurance plan is that it should offer the optimal level of health insurance to the consumers. Of course, the costs should be considered on the second spot.
• Consumers should understand the costs involved in any health insurance plan. It would include monthly premium, deductibles, copays or coinsurance, depending upon the type of the policy that a consumer buys.
• To make sure that affordable health insurance becomes a reality, consumers in California should know beforehand whether the affordable health insurance provides prescription drug coverage, doctor visits and hospitalization benefits.
• Consumers who need to see a specialist need to know whether the health insurance plan requires having referrals from a primary physician. If it is so, it is advised not to buy such health insurance plan
• Consumers should be aware of the procedure of company’s reimbursement services? Is it understandable and easy to execute? Many times, consumers find it difficult to go through the complex customer support services.
• Ideally, the insurers should have a 24x7 dedicated customer support service? If not, this could not be an ideal situation to realize the dream of landing on an affordable health insurance plan in California.
• Consumers should understand the costs involved in any health insurance plan. It would include monthly premium, deductibles, copays or coinsurance, depending upon the type of the policy that a consumer buys.
• To make sure that affordable health insurance becomes a reality, consumers in California should know beforehand whether the affordable health insurance provides prescription drug coverage, doctor visits and hospitalization benefits.
• Consumers who need to see a specialist need to know whether the health insurance plan requires having referrals from a primary physician. If it is so, it is advised not to buy such health insurance plan
• Consumers should be aware of the procedure of company’s reimbursement services? Is it understandable and easy to execute? Many times, consumers find it difficult to go through the complex customer support services.
• Ideally, the insurers should have a 24x7 dedicated customer support service? If not, this could not be an ideal situation to realize the dream of landing on an affordable health insurance plan in California.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Why is your health plan costlier than others?
Looking for health insurance and confused about different health plans? Confused why your medical policy costs more than your friend’s? Wondering how is your premium calculated? Here is an overlook on the factors that contribute towards the premium on your health policy.
1. Locality
Insurance laws vary from state to state. And so does the cost of health plans. Price of the premium depends heavily on the regulations of the state and therefore the costs differ from state to state.
2. The type of Health Plan
The cost of an individual health policy will differ from a group plan to a family policy. Government sponsored health plans will have significantly lower premiums as compared to private policies. Accessing a health plan at work will be cheaper as the cost of the premium is shared by the employee as well as the employer. Similarly an indemnity health plan is much more expensive than a managed healthcare policy. Even in managed health plans, a HMO is cheaper than a PPO or a PoS.
3. Age
It is the single most important factor that determines the cost of the premium. The older one gets, the more his chances of falling sick and therefore the cost is higher. Therefore it is always advisable that the sooner one buys a health plan, the better and cheaper it is.
4. Lifestyle
Drinking or smoking puts an individual at a greater risk of health problems. Being overweight is also considered to be a health risk. Thus a person who smokes or consumes alcohol or is obese has to pay more for his health coverage than others.
5. Health Status
People with pre-existing medical conditions are often charged more for their health plans. Their applications are rejected quite frequently as well. Residents with existing medical conditions normally pay a higher premium than those who do not suffer from any illness.
6. Coverage
A short term plan or a policy that caters only to a specific disease will have a much lower premium as compared to a regular medical policy.
7. Added benefits
This applies mainly to individual health plans. Individual policies can be customized according to personal health needs of the person. So if a person has needs more benefits or extra coverage, then he would have to pay a higher premium.
Health plans are not ‘one-size-fits-all’ and so are the costs of the premium. The price on the premium depends on a various factors and the combination of these factors decides the price of that particular health plan.
1. Locality
Insurance laws vary from state to state. And so does the cost of health plans. Price of the premium depends heavily on the regulations of the state and therefore the costs differ from state to state.
2. The type of Health Plan
The cost of an individual health policy will differ from a group plan to a family policy. Government sponsored health plans will have significantly lower premiums as compared to private policies. Accessing a health plan at work will be cheaper as the cost of the premium is shared by the employee as well as the employer. Similarly an indemnity health plan is much more expensive than a managed healthcare policy. Even in managed health plans, a HMO is cheaper than a PPO or a PoS.
3. Age
It is the single most important factor that determines the cost of the premium. The older one gets, the more his chances of falling sick and therefore the cost is higher. Therefore it is always advisable that the sooner one buys a health plan, the better and cheaper it is.
4. Lifestyle
Drinking or smoking puts an individual at a greater risk of health problems. Being overweight is also considered to be a health risk. Thus a person who smokes or consumes alcohol or is obese has to pay more for his health coverage than others.
5. Health Status
People with pre-existing medical conditions are often charged more for their health plans. Their applications are rejected quite frequently as well. Residents with existing medical conditions normally pay a higher premium than those who do not suffer from any illness.
6. Coverage
A short term plan or a policy that caters only to a specific disease will have a much lower premium as compared to a regular medical policy.
7. Added benefits
This applies mainly to individual health plans. Individual policies can be customized according to personal health needs of the person. So if a person has needs more benefits or extra coverage, then he would have to pay a higher premium.
Health plans are not ‘one-size-fits-all’ and so are the costs of the premium. The price on the premium depends on a various factors and the combination of these factors decides the price of that particular health plan.
Friday, October 22, 2010
6 Tips to Find Cheap Medical Insurance in Washington
It is important to have a check on the costs of a health insurance plan in Washington. However, it is not a difficult job to perform. With a little bit of home-work, consumers can quickly find a cheap medical insurance plan to provide the required level of coverage. The main idea is to analyze multiple options available from different insurers and then to decide on the most suitable health insurance plan.
Here are some of the points to remember to make sure that consumers are able to buy cheap medical insurance in Washington:
1. Consumers should look to increase the out-of-the-pocket expenses as it lowers the premium.
2. Consumers should also look for discount health insurance plans that offer cheaper fees for the services that they use.
3. Consumers can choose to eliminate coverage for routine office visits; this again lowers the premiums of the health plans. Healthy individuals should surely go for this option.
4. High deductible is a good option to reduce the premiums. Consumers who do not need medical care for some type of medical condition should go for this option. Having high deductible lowers the premium to a considerable amount.
5. Lots of companies in Washington offer discounts to consumers for paying annual premium. If consumers are sure that they want to stick with a particular health insurance plan, they should go for this option.
6. Residents of Washington should be looking to open a Medical Savings Account (MSA). MSA’s are the government's way of helping that makes healthcare affordable. Self-employed individuals should go for this option.
7. Health insurance plans help in getting tax deductions from the government. This is one way to make sure that the health insurance plans are affordable and cheap on the pocket.
Here are some of the points to remember to make sure that consumers are able to buy cheap medical insurance in Washington:
1. Consumers should look to increase the out-of-the-pocket expenses as it lowers the premium.
2. Consumers should also look for discount health insurance plans that offer cheaper fees for the services that they use.
3. Consumers can choose to eliminate coverage for routine office visits; this again lowers the premiums of the health plans. Healthy individuals should surely go for this option.
4. High deductible is a good option to reduce the premiums. Consumers who do not need medical care for some type of medical condition should go for this option. Having high deductible lowers the premium to a considerable amount.
5. Lots of companies in Washington offer discounts to consumers for paying annual premium. If consumers are sure that they want to stick with a particular health insurance plan, they should go for this option.
6. Residents of Washington should be looking to open a Medical Savings Account (MSA). MSA’s are the government's way of helping that makes healthcare affordable. Self-employed individuals should go for this option.
7. Health insurance plans help in getting tax deductions from the government. This is one way to make sure that the health insurance plans are affordable and cheap on the pocket.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Understanding Health Insurance Costs
A health insurance policy has two important segments that a consumer needs to consider before the final decision to purchase is made:
1. Level of coverage offered by the plan
2. Cost involved to be borne by the consumer
Among these two, if the focus is simply on buying a cheap health insurance plan, consumer would ignore the first one. However, if the consumer is smart enough, the focus would be equally divided among both of them so as to get maximum coverage within the lowest budget.
Now, if we talk about budget, let’s try to understand what types of costs are involved in a health insurance plan.
The cost of a health plan can be again categorized:
1. Monthly premium
2. Deductibles
3. Copays
4. Coinsurance
Let’s discuss all these four in details:
Monthly premium: monthly premium is the main cost that a consumer has to pay for a year. As the policy is renewed, this premium would need to be paid again on monthly basis. Premiums may vary based on age, gender, habits (smoking, drinking, health status, etc. Moreover, with every renewal, the premiums may change on the increasing side. Sometimes companies also increase premium with a notice to the consumers.
Deductibles: deductible is the amount of money needs to be paid by the consumer before the insurer actually starts paying for any particular coverage. Suppose a consumer needs a medical care which would cost $4000. If the deductible is $2000, the consumer will need to pay the initial $2000 and the rest of the amount will be paid by the insurer. It is advisable to have higher deductibles if the consumers are enjoying good health status, as it helps in lowering down the premium costs.
Copays: copayment, as the name suggest, is again paid by the consumer for a particular type of medical care just to make sure that the consumer does not spend on health care that is not necessary. It could be a small amount but it helps in keeping a check on the consumer.
Coinsurance: coinsurance is expressed in % of the total cost incurred for a particular type of medical care to be paid by the consumer after the deductibles have been paid. Suppose a consumer has opted for coinsurance for doctor’s visit. If the coinsurance agreed is 20% and supposing that doctor’s visit would cost $100, the consumer will have to pay $20 each time. This will be paid after the deductible has been paid.
1. Level of coverage offered by the plan
2. Cost involved to be borne by the consumer
Among these two, if the focus is simply on buying a cheap health insurance plan, consumer would ignore the first one. However, if the consumer is smart enough, the focus would be equally divided among both of them so as to get maximum coverage within the lowest budget.
Now, if we talk about budget, let’s try to understand what types of costs are involved in a health insurance plan.
The cost of a health plan can be again categorized:
1. Monthly premium
2. Deductibles
3. Copays
4. Coinsurance
Let’s discuss all these four in details:
Monthly premium: monthly premium is the main cost that a consumer has to pay for a year. As the policy is renewed, this premium would need to be paid again on monthly basis. Premiums may vary based on age, gender, habits (smoking, drinking, health status, etc. Moreover, with every renewal, the premiums may change on the increasing side. Sometimes companies also increase premium with a notice to the consumers.
Deductibles: deductible is the amount of money needs to be paid by the consumer before the insurer actually starts paying for any particular coverage. Suppose a consumer needs a medical care which would cost $4000. If the deductible is $2000, the consumer will need to pay the initial $2000 and the rest of the amount will be paid by the insurer. It is advisable to have higher deductibles if the consumers are enjoying good health status, as it helps in lowering down the premium costs.
Copays: copayment, as the name suggest, is again paid by the consumer for a particular type of medical care just to make sure that the consumer does not spend on health care that is not necessary. It could be a small amount but it helps in keeping a check on the consumer.
Coinsurance: coinsurance is expressed in % of the total cost incurred for a particular type of medical care to be paid by the consumer after the deductibles have been paid. Suppose a consumer has opted for coinsurance for doctor’s visit. If the coinsurance agreed is 20% and supposing that doctor’s visit would cost $100, the consumer will have to pay $20 each time. This will be paid after the deductible has been paid.
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