Discover the Best Individual Medical Insurance
for You!
Find Cheap, Affordable Health Insurance Coverage Now!
Cheap health insurance is not always easy to find, especially if you try to search all on your own. Our service is provided free of charge to help you connect with reputable companies who will be able to give you individual health insurance quotes on several different companies and on different types of plans. A good agent should be able to explain the differences from one individual or family health insurance policy to another.
Currently, individual/ family health insurance is not particularly portable. That is, coverage available in one state may not be available in another. An internet search for the cheapest premium may bring up a long list of possibilities, but careful research will usually show that most plans which appear to be low cost are actually discount plans or indemnity plans rather than true major medical. 
It is a truism, but accurate nonetheless, that cheapest is not always best. There are probably less than a dozen companies offering affordable health insurance in any given state, and the premiums from one full coverage plan to another are likely to be very comparable. Thus you may want to explore different types of private plans offered by one company as an alternative to endless comparisons from one company to another.
Health Coverage Options
Different types of personal health insurance policies have a wider range of premium than the same type of plan from different companies.
Traditional Fee for Service: This is the type of insurance that most people are familiar with as it is the most common group policy. You pay a deductible and then a percentage of the bill. You can lower your premium by taking a higher deductible or by opting for a 70/30 plan or a 50/50 plan rather than the more common 80/20. In order to protect yourself from a high out of pocket, you can choose an out of pocket max or even set up a health savings account.
Managed Care Plans: Managed care plans require you to work with a network of doctors and hospitals. The assumption is that your doctors will work together to provide the best care at the lowest cost, thereby saving money for both you and the insurance company. The most common, and usually most preferred, is the PPO or preferred provider organization. With this plan you can go to doctors outside your network, but you will pay a higher out of pocket. Your premium will be lower than the fee for service and you may also be able to select an office copay where you pay a set fee for an office visit regardless of what service is performed.
The other managed care plan is the HMO which stands for health maintenance organization. With this plan, you must choose a primary care physician who will make all decisions regarding your health care and who will refer you to specialists within the network if he/she feels it is necessary to do so. With these plans, you have an office copay and usually a 20% coinsurance for everything else, such as hospital care. This type of plan is most restrictive, but if you are in good health, it is usually also the least expensive of the full coverage plans.
Catastrophic Health Insurance: A type of health care that has been gaining in popularity and actually has the potential for bringing down the costs of health insurance for all is to opt for catastrophic health insurance. This relatively inexpensive type of plan is major medical care, but only kicks in for costs that exceed a deductible that could range from 2,500 to $10,000. It is not a good plan for people who already have chronic conditions that involve continuous expense, but can be a major cost saver for healthy individuals. With a catastrophic plan, you will pay for routine costs such as physicals, minor dental care, vision care, office visits, lab work, and even minor outpatient surgeries, depending on your deductible. However, if a truly catastrophic event should take place, your insurance would kick in. This model is more in line with the original purpose of insurance.
Indemnity /Discount Plans: Indemnity plans are usually the least expensive types of plans, but are also not considered major medical. They are good plans to have as a means of covering some of the out of pocket cost on a high deductible plan, but are not considered insurance and should not be relied upon as an alternative to health insurance. That being said, indemnity plans are certainly a "better than nothing" option, and due to the high cost of health insurance today, many people are purchasing them. The key to having one that works is to make sure that either your doctor accepts payment from the plan or that the plan is able to refund you directly upon submission of the bill.
Discount plans are the least preferred of all the plan options and in some cases may be almost useless. They are not considered insurance and do not actually pay the doctor anything. Rather, they negotiate with doctors and hospitals to accept a discount on their services. Doctors who are not part of the plan will not give you the discount and there is no way for you to be reimbursed by the plan.
Regardless of the option that seems attractive to you, it's a good idea to talk to an agent who understands health insurance to make sure you know what you are paying for and that it will perform as you expect.
