Healthy New York Health Insurance Application
Reader’s Question:
I am about to get my health insurance in New York. I am just curious, what are the factors that affect a person’s health insurance rate? I just wanna make sure that I do some research so I’ll be ready once I purchased my health insurance.
George
NYC/p>
When shopping for health insurance, your will be asked to fill out a questionnaire. This questionnaire, will give an idea to the health insurance companies on how risky you are to be insured. Following are some of the main factors that health insurance companies take into consideration in setting health insurance premiums:
1. Health History. If you have maintained a good health history, which means you were not in and out of the hospital or no heart attack for the past 10 years, then you don’t have to worry. You won’t expect a high health insurance rate since you pose lower risk to be insured;
2. Weight. If your weight is beyond normal or you have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 39, you will find it difficult to get a health insurance company willing to insure you. So, I would suggest burn those fats first.
3. Smoker. If you do smoke, then quit. We all know smoking causes cancer. But if you can’t quit, then expect a higher health insurance rate for you;
4. Age. If you are older, the higher your health insurance premium would be. The reason is simple, as you aged, the chance of filing health claims is higher as compared to when you are younger; and
5. Job. If you work as a pilot, fireman, or any other hazardous jobs that puts your life at risk, then you would be expecting a higher health insurance rate.
Exclusions in Health Insurance Policy Louisiana LA
Reader’s Question:
I understand very little about health insurance policies, and I constantly feel in the dark. I do not even have a clear idea of what might not be included, and this worries me. I’ve just always thought that health care insurance policies would save me from exorbitant medical expenses! Can you explain some of the limitations of a health insurance policy? I live in Louisiana.
Joy
New Orleans, LA
If you think that your healthcare plan includes every medical cost you might have in the future, you’re up for a surprise. Mostly, a very good health insurance plan means that you will only need to pay for a minimal amount, but certainly there are limitations to what is covered. Here are some exclusions to your healthcare policy.
First of these are pre-existing conditions. Many health insurance companies are reluctant to shoulder the cost of those medical conditions that you already had before you bought the health insurance policy. Insurers generally have an exclusion period of about 6 months; The state of Louisiana allows this period to be as long as one year. This means you cannot get coverage for pre-existing conditions within the first 6 or 12 months, depending on your contract.
Another is drug abuse. This exclusion assumes that you have inflicted the problem upon yourself. So, in the same way, attempts at committing suicide are excluded. So is alcoholism.
Mental illness–especially if it has already manifested before the start of your contract– will not be covered, as well. So, your psychiatric care will not be paid for by the health insurance company. The same goes for any treatment for learning and behavioral problems.
Cosmetic surgery is not vital to life or living, so looking more beautiful is something you will have to spend for on your own. Most medical procedures considered to be preventive are part of the exclusions, too. So are dental and eye care.
Of course, the best advice I could give is for you to make sure that you read your contract with any insurer very carefully and ask your health insurance company the questions that boggle you.
Tags: Health Care, health insurance, insurance
Self employed health insurance
Reader question:
I’m about to start my own business. What do I need to know about health insurance?
Abigail
Great question.
Having self employed health insurance is more important than even having health insurance while you are employed by a company. Consider the fact that all of your health insurance is funded by yourself, and if you don’t have it, should something happen to you that puts you in the hospital for a few days, you’ll be out of work. And if you’re self employed, you don’t get paid for things like sick days and vacation time, so not only will you have a huge hospital bill, but you will also be out several days of work with no recompense.
Getting health insurance if you are self employed is financially responsible even if nothing happens to you medically while you have it. The self employed are allowed to claim their health insurance costs on their tax returns as a business expense. For self employed people looking for a good health insurance plan, there are health savings account, which are tailored specifically for the self employed.
If you intend to be self employed, you need to find out what you will do about health insurance before leaving the job you’re at now. Looking for health insurance if you happen to have a pre existing condition, or your family does, can be difficult, and you might have to end up getting insured through your state’s high risk pool, which can be costly.
You might want to save costs and guard your personal information by not employing a health insurance broker. This is understandable, but if you choose to go this route, you will need to put much more effort and research into your search. You will need to understand the different terms and policy speak that come along with health insurance plans so that you can be sure that the plan will cover you and your family. Or you could choose to go with a broker. They cost, but they also know more about you, although they tend to be pushy.
As mentioned before, a good plan for the self employed is a health savings account. These are trusts with a bank or credit union which are tax exempt and are paid into by you, in the form of cash. In order to work, they have to come side by side with a health insurance plan with a high deductible. It gives you greater coverage than your average plan.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Health insurance for Columbia University
Reader question:
I’m just been accepted as a student at Columbia University in New York, and I heard that you have to have health insurance to go there. Is that true?
Albert
Yep.
You could say that Columbia is looking out for its students by requiring every student who attends classes there full time to be covered by a decent Columbia health insurance plan. It’s both trying to make sure that it is not responsible for any student ‘accidents’ and to make sure that its students are provided with proper health care. It can seem like a huge burden for many students to buy expensive health insurance after many are already putting forty thousand dollars a year into Colombia just for tuition and their dorm. It’s important as a student at CU, then, to compare health insurance quotes and determine which plan is best and cheapest for you.
Like most universities, Columbia University has clinicians on the campus who can help treat you if you fall ill or get injured and can prescribe you medication. However, there are many emergency situations that these clinicians are not qualified to deal with, and Columbia wants its students to be able to go get good health care from a hospital at these times.
Columbia doesn’t just leave its students hanging out to dry and having to find health insurance coverage on their own or else. Rather, it offers a program called the Student Medical Insurance Plan with which students can register for basic or comprehensive coverage. Whenever you register for classes full time at this school, your name is immediatly enrolled in this plan. If you already have health insurance and those don’t want to use the Columbia health insurance plan, then you can submit a waiver.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Health insurance and elective procedures
It’s old news that medical health insurance for many people really does sucks, as they talk about in this video I found on YouTube. It’s kind of funny, kind of weird (especially the constant shot of that guy wearing a mask, not sure why that’s there), but it’s also revealing of the way many Americans feel about their medical health insurance coverage. Many people who work for large companies get great deals on group health insurance, and people who have enough money can buy plenty of good health insurance for themselves.
One of the big issues about medical health insurance, other than why so many people either don’t have it or don’t have enough of it, is about elective health care. This doesn’t always have to do with health care necessarily, and often involves elective procedures such as botox, lasik surgery, and breast augmentation. It’s up for debate about whether other people covered by a health insurance company should be made to suffer higher payments because of someone doing something that isn’t necessary for their health. However, as you can see in the video where they talk about breast reduction, sometimes it’s hard to draw the line between what is elective surgery and what is really needed.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.