Ghost Writer

How To Buy Health Insurance Online

June 6, 2008 on 4:20 am | In Health Insurance |

It would be wonderful if health insurance policies had some consistency. It would be wonderful if you could just make one phone call and have “ health insurance”, know you’re covered and be able to relax. But that’s not the case in America. There are thousands of policies hundreds of insurance companies and each one is different and each one holds its own little surprises.

Some policies don’t cover doctor visits, while others only partially cover a limited number of visits per year. Some policies won’t pay out dime-one until after you’ve exhausted a high deductible. Some family policies won’t cover one family member until two or more of your family members have exhausted their high deductible.

Some policies won’t cover prescriptions and others will with the co-pay, but only after a separate deductible. Some policies will cover, with a co-pay only the cheapest of prescriptions leaving you on your own for more recent, expensive formulas.

Some policies will make you go through hoops and get permission from a primary physician before you can consult a specialist. Others will partially cover physicians visits, but will not cover any of the procedures, or tests he may require you to take.

Some policies will cover most of your hospital treatment but little or none of your follow-up outpatient treatment, where most of your expenses will be incurred

All policies have limits to what they’re willing to pay out over the lifetime of your insurance. Some policies limit how much money they’re willing to cover towards specific treatments.

Some policies have deductibles so high that you’d have to experience a serious illness before you can avail yourself of any of the covered remedies of which you’d dearly paid each monthly.

Know what you’re getting before or you buy. Read the fine print. There’s lots of fine print. Don’t trust anyone. Don’t take anyone’s word for anything.

Insurance companies are in it for profit. No matter how nice their commercials they are not in it for charity. Caveat emptor, let the buyer beware, and beware you should be.

Go online, search for an independent agent in your area. Finding an independent agent is essential because they represent a variety of insurance companies. While there is no guarantee that they will not steer you in the direction of the company with which they will make the most profit, their licenses expressly forbid that and, in most cases, they’ll have options enough so they won’t have to.

Find an online quoting engine. Many independent agents will have one on their website. The quoting engine can offer price comparison between the most competitive insurance companies and policies available in your area. Type in your particulars, press the button and then after reviewing the results, request a call from your choice of agents.

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Jeff Wild is an independent health insurance agent and a representative of some of the highest rated insurers in the United States. His Web Site, Simple Health Coverage was created to educate, inform and connect consumers with the best carriers, policies agents and choices in their geographic area.