What Affects My Health Insurance Rates in New York
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.
How to shop for catastrophic health insurance
So maybe you have decided that you fit into the right kind of group that catastrophic health insurance will benefit best. You’ve considered your options and also considered the high amount of financial responsibility that catastrophic health insurance requires, and you have also considered the limits of its coverage. After understanding all of that, and making sure that you could have enough money to cover higher deductibles in the incidence of a medical emergency, you’re ready to start shopping for catastrophic health insurance. Here’s what to do.
- Ask how much your medical health insurance premium will cost you, both on a monthly and yearly basis. This is very important to know, because obviously the low monthly premium payment is the main draw that catastrophic health insurance holds.
- Ask how much the deductible will be.This is one of the most important things to ask about, because you need to know if you can afford the deductible if you get catastrophic health insurance,. because otherwise there isn’t a point.
- Do you want a lot of coverage or a little coverage? If you need more extensive medical health insurance coverage, then catastrophic health insurance coverage might not be the best for you, and you should definitely consider what your wants and needs are.
- Do you take any prescriptions? If you do need to pay for a lot of prescription drugs, you might do better with a different health insurance plan, because catastrophic health insurance does not cover drugs, and prescriptions cost quite a bit and the amount can add up if you are paying it all by yourself.
- Do you have enough money to pay for things like check ups on your own? If you don’t, then you need a different type of coverage. Doctor’s visits often cost a lot, and I know that when I was pregnant my doctor charged almost two hundred dollars per fifteen minute check up–which came every one to two weeks. That can add up if you’re paying out of pocket.
- Any pre-existing conditions? If you have one of these, you’re out. Catastrophic health insurance plans don’t take on the risk of people who already have a condition.
- Is it easy to get sick for you? Not every sickness can be covered by an emergency room visit, so you’ll probably need coverage that covers a regular doctor.
- How high up does the lifetime maximum go?
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Family health insurance
Let’s face it. What’s going on in the video above isn’t exactly unusual. Kids will be kids, right? And as kids, they’re that much more likely to get them self into some kind of trouble that involves a hospital visit. Kids are walking disasters, which is why no house with children or even teenagers is complete without lots of band aids and disinfectant. And if you have children who are so prone to accidents, it makes getting a family health insurance policy extremely important. Accidents happen a lot, and when you’re already working on raising a family and paying bills, you don’t want to put your future in trouble by being hit with huge medical bills.
There are basically two ways that you can get family health insurance. The cheapest and most popular family health insurance is the kind that you get through your job. Your employer pays part of the premiums, so you and your family pay less per month. With this choice, though, you’ll have fewer options for the kind of plan that you can choose, because it’s controlled by your employer.
The other way is to take out your own family health insurance policy. It will cost more–as of 2002, the average monthly family health insurance premium was $330, but you’ll have a lot more options. Getting to pick your own deductible will make it a lot more comfortable for you financially, but the main perk of this way is that you can choose a doctor that you like.
Don’t just run straight into your family health insurance plan. You should consider your plan choices very carefully. A low deductible doesn’t always mean a great deal, especially when you consider that some of the cheapest family health insurance lacks one of the most important parts of a child’s healthy upbringing–preventive medicine.
You should also consider how your family health insurance plan covers prescriptions. Health insurance is paying for these less and less these days, so you want to be careful not to get a plan that doesn’t pay at all. You might have to end up choosing a co-payment plan.
Finally, the best way to find the best family health insurance plan is to shop around. Get quotes from different health insurance companies and then research further after that. If you’re between jobs, it might be a good idea for you to get temporary health insurance to keep you covered until you can get an employer provided plan.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Student health insurance is important
If you’re a student, student health insurance should be near the top of your list of priorities. You’re away from home and probably aren’t depending on the parents as much anymore, and without that place on your family’s health insurance policy, a student health insurance plan is the only way to insure that you are taken care of so that you don’t end up slouching under the weight of medical debt for the rest of your life. You want to get that good job and live good after college, not be worrying about the thousands and thousands of dollars in medical costs even after you pay off your student loans.
But the strange truth is that college students, even ones studying medicine, are opting out of student health insurance. The widely held belief seems to be that the university clinic is an okay way to take care of your medical needs. It isn’t. Student health clinics are sub standard and don’t see to your needs. If you want real coverage an protection, you need to get student health insurance.
Different insurance companies will give you different quotes on your student health insurance premium. Because of this, the most important step in taking out a student health insurance policy is to shop around. That means finding quotes from different companies and comparing. There are plenty of sites on the internet that provide you with free quotes, and it’s very easy to do the research.
Once you have these quotes, you’ll be able to narrow it down to a list and talk to your insurance companies personally. Here are a few questions that you should ask:
- What is the maximum that I am covered for?
- Do I have to get a referral if I want to see a specialist?
- Is the student health insurance policy for both undergaduates and graduate students?
- Do I get to choose my own doctor? From a list, or freely?
- What does it cost?
- How high is the deductible?
- Am I covered to go see a doctor when I am not sick or injured?
- Am I covered while traveling?
These are important questions to ask, but if you think of more, go ahead by all means. Anything that you can do to help you narrow it down.
The deductible is a really important aspect. If you get a higher one, you’ll get cheap health insurance rates. But if you do end up opting for a higher one, consider that it should be something you’ll be able to afford. If you’re a medical student, you could get some professional courtesy, which will make things cheaper but won’t apply to deductibles.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama
Should I get cheap health insurance with an Indiana PPO?
A great benefit of cheap health insurance Indiana PPOs is that you only pay your medical providers the PPO’s negotiated rate for services. For example, I recently had an upper GI which cost thousands after hospital, doctor, anesthesia, and pathology bills started rolling in.
The physician’s charge alone was $650 for the fifteen minute procedure. My PPO cut the bill down to $167. So even though I hadn’t met my $4,000 deductible for the year yet, I only had to pay $167, not the doctor’s entire bill. That one adjustment alone more than paid for my family’s cheap health insurance Indiana premium for one month.
Of course, by the time I finished paying all of the related charges, I had met my $4,000 deductible. I hadn’t met it the previous two years, and I wasn’t planning on spending that much on medical expenses this year either. That is what insurance is really for…those surprises that can cripple us financially in the blink of an eye.
So I may pay a little more for every day doctor visits (which the PPO also adjusts to huge savings) for carrying a high deductible, but being part of the PPO network makes it worthwhile.