Health insurance rate quotes
are available for the average individual looking for health insurance. Health
insurance rate quotes vary depending on your family and your lifestyle. Health
insurance rates are based on a number of factors including your medical
history, your age and whether or not you smoke. This article will tell you how
to get an affordable health insurance rate quote.
Under the new Affordable Care
Act, most young people can be insured up to the full age of 27 without the aid
of their parents. For this reason, it's often best for young people to remain
on their parents' health insurance policies until they are of legal age to
purchase their own. This will allow them to maintain their family coverage
until such time as they are able to purchase their own health insurance
policies. It is also important to remember that each state has different
minimum health insurance requirements for children.
The cost of health insurance
premiums varies greatly depending on your age, gender, health history and
marital status. Insurance carriers use these factors to determine your premium.
The more risky you are for the insurer, the higher your premium will be.
Conversely, the younger and/or married you are the less risky you are and the
lower your premium will be.
There are three levels of
health insurance plans. Your basic policy is the lowest cost plan that is
available to you. Your "bronze" or silver tier level policy provides
coverage for a catastrophic accident, most serious hospital stays and most other
pre-existing conditions. Your "catastrophic" or platinum tier health
insurance plans provide coverage for a wide array of health conditions, as well
as most catastrophic accidents and emergencies.
The next factor used by health
insurance companies in determining your rate is your family size. Each insurer
has a specific set of family size guidelines that they use in their
calculations. Some insurers have tiered family size charts that provide an
average cost for your entire family, while others base their costs on your
family size in conjunction with your dependents. Be sure to get this
information from the company that you choose.
Most insurers follow closely
on the heels of state officials when it comes time to review rate hikes. State
officials, acting on behalf of the insurance department, review and approve or
disapprove rate hikes that have been passed by the insurers. This allows the
department to implement rate hikes that are approved by all insurers.
If your state officials refuse
to approve rate hikes, don't assume that the cost containment measures being
implemented by your carriers will be forthcoming. In fact, carriers often find
cost containment harder to implement than many people realize. During the
process of rate reviews, state officials often request financial information
from carriers. Carriers turn over documentation that details how they service
existing clients. The cost containment team at the carrier will go through this
documentation and compile a report detailing everything they found to be
concerning the costs of providing the services to each individual client.
If the department refuses to
approve rate increases, then you're out of luck. There is another way that you
can ensure that you won't be affected by the cost containment initiatives.
Purchase a "master policy." A master policy is designed to serve as a
permanent policy that covers all of your healthcare needs. Rather than
obtaining multiple individual policies that only cover specific conditions,
you'll instead be purchasing one master policy that will cover them all. Shop
around for a master policy that has the lowest combined rate for all of your
healthcare needs.
