www.ahi-affordablehealth.com
With the economy on a tailspin, there are many people looking for ways on how to cut costs. One area that customers are already looking at is finding affordable health insurance coverage. Here are some secrets to help you have an affordable health insurance:
• Find insurance quotes online – most websites will only require one inquiry and it will already pull up multiple companies. If you lay these quotes out on a spreadsheet, you can already compare the benefits “apples to apples.”
• Custom build your insurance plan – one suit will not fit everything. For example, you can have lower costs and higher deductibles by adding a critical illness rider in the plan so that in the event of a cancer, stroke, or heart attack you will still be protected at a much less premium cost.
by: Christine Zafra
Development in the healthcare industry have helped us prolong and improve the quality of lives. Though there has been any advances, there are still about 47 million Americans, including 3.8 Million Floridians who don’t have the insurance they need and therefore don’t have the chance to use many of the medical advances available. In fact, it is the No. 1 obstruction in accessing health care and many people die because of this. Most of the reasons are actually due to financial. The government is fast to respond to their by giving away national health care, but the questions that arise are: are they fast enough and what will they do with the 47 million who are uninsured?
Photo taken from http://i191.photobucket.com
A health policy is more of a wide plan that helps cover all hospitalization charges in case of sickness or disease. The insured individual can claim a policy up to the value of the sum being insured. The health plan comes in variety from which you need to pick up and choose the scheme the suits your needs.
by: Christine Zafra
When it comes to services offered, insurance companies should be transparent about their coverage (transparency and accountability work hand in hand). The new House Bill 1385 allowed all the insurance companies from all states to put up their company profiles, services offered, coverage and the like in one single website. Obviously, since the website is on the internet, people from all parts of the United States can access it therefore, compare insurance prices and coverage. This website can actually promote healthy competition amongst insurance companies.
Photo taken from http://ethisphere.com
by: Christine Zafra
Are the government officials inefficient or is the system incurable? That was the question we’ve tackled sometime in our class. As a political science major, we’ve been dealing with government issues almost everyday of our lives.
But we realized something: these things are intertwined and are dependent on each other.
Rep. Dan Morrish of Louisiana made freezing of insurance mandates possible. However, this legislation was simply ignored by the Legislature that approved it. Louisiana now has a total of 24 mandates in line, each creating an additional expenditure to healthcare policies in Louisiana.
Photo taken from http://www.mtgfoundation.com
by: Djai Tanji
A short term health insurance plan provides coverage for accidents or unexpected and sudden illness. It offers coverage for 30 to 180 days, but there are plans that will also cover you initially until 12 months. If your short term needs run longer than the coverage you can normally renew the plan but never expect for an extension after a year. A short term health insurance plan has benefit limits and it is required to cover an initial deductible and to make necessary co-payments. You will certainly be allowed to choose from the selection of doctors, hospitals or some other health-care providers. To submit and apply for short term insurance, you can send it via email and you may pay via check or credit card.
Although there is an increase in utilization and higher costs, the rate of growth of health insurance premiums is still reducing. According to a study, even if the premiums increased by 8.8 percent between year 2004 and 2005, it is still 36 percent lower compared to the 13.7 percent increase in the same study found in year 2002. Research also shows that 43 percent of the increase is because of the higher utilization of services, the factors of which are the increase in consumer demands, aging and unhealthy lifestyle, and the latest medical treatments. Recent reports stated that 86 cents from every dollar paid on premiums are directed towards paying for medical services.
The employer based health insurance system is crumbling which is resulting in more uninsured people with more limited access to much needed health services. Latest state level reforms try to focus on lower income families with new variations on employer and personal health insurance coverage responsibilities. States are targeting near universal coverage while keeping a focus on providing more coverage for children or partnership between public and private insurance groups to help insure low income workers. Alarming figures show that the number of uninsured can rise to 56 million by 2013. With a seeming lack of action from the federal level, many state leaders have taken it upon themselves to enact reforms at the state level.
Health Insurance Savings is being offered by business companies to the employees as a group and is now an option for small businesses also. Health insurance savings account aids in saving the money from the account which could be used for future medical expenses. In which case, the money in the account could still grow through investment earnings. The Health Insurance Savings premium could be lowered if the health insurance coverage is switched with a higher deductible resulting to favorable tax treatment. People under 65 years of age who own a high- deductible policy are qualified to open an account.
In order for more Americans to gain quality, affordable and portable health insurance, it would be best that health insurance be allowed to be purchased across state lines by removing the artificial regulatory barriers. This way, there will be more accesses and choices. The current situation in America is that people are allowed to buy insurance that are available only in their home state. They do not have access to look for better deals in another state. The choices and options for every individuals and businesses are being limited because health insurance marketplace is separated in each and every state.