Finding Cheap Medical Insurance – Know The Facts
Healthcare costs are on everyone’s minds lately and finding cheap medical insurance is everyone’s goal. Even couples making six figures a year are having trouble buying decent medical insurance. Even with company sponsored plans, the employee usually needs to pay a small fortune for either all the premium, or the majority of the premium. Some states are outrageously expensive because of the makeup of the state’s population. In areas where there are high percentages of elderly and poor people looking for free medical care, it’s the consumer who has a policy that pays the price for everyone.
Our government is actively researching options to provide affordable healthcare to everyone but even if everyone can ever get to the point of agreeing on the details, this new plan won’t even take effect for another five years. However, if that ever does happen, no one can tell us how “affordable” this insurance will be.
Consumers know you get what you pay for. Period. No matter what you buy, there’s a value for your dollar. And cheap is rarely the best value for your money. Even a child knows that a cheap toy breaks right away. As consumers, it is up to us to make certain we know what we get for our hard earned money.
Although “cheap” insurance exists, it’s usually nothing worth the money it costs. The major reason why any type of insurance would be considered cheap is that there is an unreasonably high annual deductible usually well over $5, 000 for the family, and the plan doesn’t cover what we’d expect. Some of these cheap policies don’t cover emergency room visits without prior authorization which, in most cases, in an unrealistic expectation.
One of the first drawbacks to this type of cheap insurance is that there aren’t many doctors who will take what the company wants to pay. Any doctor who is willing to accept these very low unrealistic payments should be held as suspect. Why would a good doctor willingly work with a company who pays him less than all the other insurance companies?
It’s a good idea to research the doctors on your plan. Each state has a special website that allows this type of research on licensed healthcare providers. You will be able to see their education, affiliations, patient complaints, lawsuits, etc. You may not like what you see.
Another way they keep their prices down is by insuring you for an extended period of time before paying any of your claims. In other words, the lower your premium, the longer you might need to wait to use the insurance, and sometimes this could be nine months or more.
In most cases, the doctors expect you to pay them directly. Since they are already making very little money with this insurance, they don’t want to wait to be paid. They expect you to wait to be paid. After each visit you need to pay out of your own pocket, submit the claim, and wait months for a check. And, yes, there’s a good chance you won’t be reimbursed for everything. Keep in mind they are only in business to make money, and the fewer claims they pay, the better off they are.
If you find yourself baffled by the variety of insurance types there are available on the market, there is help at hand. Unicare Health Insurance Set a date that health insurance will kick in for them. Some illnesses when you are abroad are preventable.