As an insurance customer you may have to consider which is more cost effective, an independent health insurance plan or a plan that includes your family. Individual health insurance will generally be cheaper than health insurance that must be extended to cover several individuals unless the individual in question is suffering from numerous complications. There’s still a lot of decisions to make if you go with an individual insurance plan like do you want a basic or major insurance plan, do you want to be able to pick which doctor you go to and have a more expensive plan or do you want to choose from a list of doctors available from your insurance company and see them thus having a smaller premium to pay.
However, this all changes if you have to pay for not only yourself but your dependents’ health needs. In this case it’s cheaper most times to have plans that include your dependents as four individual plans will of course, be more expensive than one plan that covers all four individuals. The more people covered under a particular insurance plan, the more expensive it will be in much the same way as the more people covered under an umbrella, the bigger the umbrella needs to be.
Of course, the more people covered under an insurance plan, the more problems you may run into in paying for the plan as smokers’ plans are more expensive than non-smokers, people with asthma or diabetes may not fall under the insurance’s payment plans as this may qualify as a preexisting condition. Gender, age and general health previously is also a large factor in determining the cost of premiums.
Family Insurance plans cover all the same things that individual plans do including x-ray and laboratory service, prescription medications, surgery, hospital stays, emergency treatment, ambulance services, dental and mental health care. However, like most insurance policies eye care services are usually not included and can be added on for a fee.
Basically the choice is entirely dependent on the make up of your family, and the decision should lie upon which would be better economically for your budget. A health care plan that caters to individual needs that may not need to be addressed by the entire family for example an asthmatic child may need special care his or her siblings may not need. Or you can purchase a health care plan that covers your entire family, smokers and alcohol consumers alike.
By: Sarah H
Health Insurance For Your Family
Family health insurance offers critical help for a family in need in these modern times fraught with uncertainty and turmoil. An unforeseen sickness, an accident, or a surgical operation can drain a family of its precious savings. Hence, it is imperative to have a family health insurance to take care of such incidents. Planning for hardships can be unpleasant, but it is important to care for our families.
Choosing a company to purchase your family health insurance policy from is a very challenging task - as challenging as selecting a new dress in a large boutique. For family health insurance packages, there are different fees, types of benefits, and levels of coverage. One of the most important factors in choosing a particular package is the monthly premium.
With certain policies, policy holders are free to choose where to receive their treatment. Also, some plans require higher deductibles that must be met before the coverage will begin. Deductibles are the amount of the covered expenses you must pay each year before the insurer starts to reimburse you. Generally, the higher the deductibles, the lower the premiums. On the other hand, some policies are based on their policy holders receiving treatment from an approved network of healthcare providers. Because this healthcare provider has agreed to provide the treatment at a pre-set price, the care will cost less for the consumer.
Family Health Insurance For Future Needs
There are many other factors to consider when choosing family health insurance policies. New babies in the family are automatically added in some policies; while some don't cater for this. Women who expect to become pregnant during their plan year must carefully study the coverage offered to them as there may be cover for the period of pregnancy but not for a new born until after a certain time period.
In fact, there are some policies offered that have to be signed for and be in existence for a few years before certain coverage, like pregnancy, are taken into consideration. Actually, this takes care of those who buy family health insurance after they've discovered that a new born baby may be on its way in about nine months time.
Actually, there is no perfect plan for anyone. Hence, an astute person has to pay the price of thorough research through several family health insurance packages to choose the right one for his family. It's profitable to carefully consider each insurance deal as one plan may seem to have a higher deductible but pays more for prescription coverage with a lower co-payment. Furthermore, the needs of each family member must be taken into consideration when making the decision on which package to signup for.
Network Of Medical Professionals
Health insurance providers offer different care options and one of the desired qualities in a service provider is that it should have a good network of health care professionals. These health insurance providers are supposed to have a wide rage of specialists that are under their networks that you can turn to. However, if you really like your present doctor, there is no reason why you should not ask him which insurance service provider his firm accepts. You might decide to purchase your insurance coverage through one of those health insurance providers.
Many insurance service providers offer various forms of health insurance plans. It is very tedious and many times confusing to compare the features of competing plans. Unfortunately, this process of due diligence is required to ensure that you choose the right plan with the right features suited to you and your family at the right price. Do your research over the Internet to get to your initial list of insurance service providers to consider for your needs. During this research phase, you will also understand and appreciate features that you will consider important to you. Contact agents from these selected insurance providers to send you their proposals based on your stated needs. Do not be afraid to clarify your doubts with these agents when you receive their proposals. It is their job to enlighten you about the various features of their proposals. Remove service providers who are unable to answer your questions convincingly or deliberately try to confuse matters, off your hit list.
When you have whittled your list down to the final shortlist, ask your family, friends and colleagues for some feedback if they have had any interactions with the health insurance service providers in your list. You may also choose to discuss your options with some trusted medical professionals.
By: Cindy Heller
