The struggle for low cost health insurance in America is real, and getting worse every day. While politicians all try to spin the health care issue in their own way and the media plays down the problem, real people every day go without basic health coverage. This often means they can’t afford prescriptions, have to forego doctor visits, and often even go bankrupt from unexpected hospital expenses. It’s a national disaster that needs to be changed.

Worse, many people who have health insurance and have never gone without it look down on those who don’t have it. They look at the uninsured as too lazy to get a “real” job, or as illegal immigrants who don’t deserve to have coverage, anyway. They don’t take into account that everyone, regardless of immigration status, deserves access to health care. They also don’t realize that not every employer provides health insurance to their employees, and that not all policies are affordable. In fact, most health insurance policies are quite expensive. Low cost health insurance is almost unheard of in this country!

According to the National Health Care Coalition, nearly 80 percent of people without health insurance in America are either Native American or naturalized citizens. Further, 8 out of 10 people who are uninsured come from working class families. Many of these people have full-time jobs, but are still unable to afford access to health insurance for one reason or another.

The entire health care system in America is designed to lock entire segments of the population out of it. For example, if you work enough to barely pay all your bills and buy food for your family, you probably earn too much to get state-sponsored Medicaid insurance. If you make good money but work for a small company, your employer may not be able to afford to offer health insurance. The cost of most policies is such that buying one would take a large chunk out of whatever surplus you bring home each month, so a lot of people in this position just decide to forego it. This is especially true among young adults (aged 18 to 24), who usually do not look at low cost health insurance as a priority.

The costs of medical services are so much nowadays that just one trip to the hospital for an unexpected illness or injury could ruin you financially. If you’re not able to pay the bill (and most people won’t be able to do this), then your credit is ruined for 7 to 10 years. So what are you to do if you need coverage but can’t afford it? Where can you find low cost health insurance? There are a handful of policies that offer reduced rates on individual policies, such as Blue Cross/Blue Sheild, which are worth looking into. It also makes sense to call small, local insurance providers personally to see if any specials are available on premiums. Though difficult to find, inexpensive health insurance does exist, and it’s extremely important to make the effort to find it. If you don’t, you’ll surely wish you had when you eventually need it, so get looking today!

his is the seventh installment in our health insurance series. Be sure to check back for updates…

No matter how you look at it, small business health insurance is expensive. What’s even more frustrating is that you know that large corporations can negotiate better rates with the insurance companies, but that businesses with 50 or fewer employees don’t have that kind of influence.

You want to offer health insurance to your employees-of course you do! You need it yourself, and you know your employees need it for themselves and their families. You also know that a major medical catastrophe could keep your valued employees out of work for weeks or longer if they’re not covered by insurance. And, you’re painfully aware that not being able to provide insurance will keep quality people from coming to work for you.

The bottom line is, offering small business health insurance coverage is eating into your profits, and you just don’t know if you can keep your company open and continue to provide benefits. So, what do you do?

The first thing to remember when searching for a good policy to offer your employees is to not take the first package you find. Look around and do your research. Most policies ARE very expensive, but there are also some good bargains out there if you take the time to find them. Don’t be afraid to ask for discounts, either. Just because you’re a small business doesn’t mean the insurance companies won’t negotiate with you, and you’ll never know unless you try.

You can also set up health savings accounts for your employees. These are accounts that your employees fund through payroll deductions that are used to pay co-pays, prescriptions, and other costs not covered by insurance. When you offer these accounts, you can sign up for insurance policies that have larger deductibles, and are therefore less expensive.

Finally, you can split the cost of premiums with your employees. Many employers are doing this nowadays. The typical arrangement is for you to pay half of the monthly premiums, while your employee pays the other half through a payroll deduction. Many people expect to have to do this now, and it will keep your small business health insurance costs down, which is ultimately the best thing for your business. By exploring your options, you can keep both your employees AND your company healthy!

This is the sixth installment in our health insurance series. Be sure to check back for updates…

Health insurance for the self-employed is a major concern for anyone who works for themselves. These days, heath insurance is hard enough to get through an employer.  Premiums are expensive, and getting more so all the time, and employers are reducing and even eliminating their contributions to cut costs. If you’re self-employed, things just keep getting more expensive, as you have to pay full price for a policy. Depending on the policy you get, that could mean $1,000 a month or more out of your pocket.

The most expensive policies of health insurance for the self-employed are those from traditional, well-known insurance carriers, such as Cigna, Blue Cross, and Aetna. However, these are also the policies that are likely to have the best coverage and the most benefits available to policy holders. Unfortunately, these big-name companies know that people are likely to pay more for the security that comes with a well-known name. After all, you can be pretty sure that these companies won’t be here today and gone tomorrow. To cover you, a spouse, and children, however, is going to cost you a lot, maybe even more than your house payment.

Lesser known policies that are designed for the self-employed are more cost effective, for the most part. You can often cover an entire family for less than $500 a month with many of these. However, co-pays and deductibles may be higher than with traditional companies, your in-network physicians list may be smaller, and the benefits offered may be scanty. You can expect a lot more out-of pocket expenses with these policies.

When it comes to health insurance for the self-employed, the choice is really yours. If you shop around, you may very well find a good company with optimal coverage at a reasonable price. After all, insurance policies and prices are changing all the time. The important thing is to get some kind of policy, because having some coverage is better than having none at all. If you don’t have it, you’ll wish you did the very first time you have to go to a doctor without coverage.

This is the fifth installment in our health insurance series. Be sure to check back for updates…

Major medical health insurance is designed to protect your finances in case of a catastrophic medical expense. This could be an extended hospitalization, an illness that requires regular and expensive medication, or any other number of things that can quickly exhaust your annual benefits on your regular health insurance plan. As everyone knows, medical expenses aren’t cheap, and if you’re hit with a large one, it can quickly overwhelm your existing insurance account and start draining your personal savings. Many people have gone bankrupt from these kinds of situations, and a major medical plan can protect you.

Lots of people are unaware that their health insurance plans have limits. Most plans have a cap on how much money they’ll pay toward your medical expenses each year, as well as over the course of a lifetime. These caps are usually quite high, such as in the millions of dollars that are usual for lifetime caps. However, serious medical situations can exhaust even these seemingly unreachable limits. It may only take a month or two in the hospital as an inpatient, for example, to reach the one million dollar mark. After that, your health insurance may stop paying.

Major medical health insurance picks up where your regular insurance plan leaves off. It’s an extra insurance to protect against the limits of insurance. Most people aren’t even aware these plans exist. However, you’ll be happy you have one if you’re ever involved in a catastrophic medical situation. While you may not envision something like this happening to you, the fact is, you never know. It’s better to be prepared than to wish you’d been prepared when it’s too late to do something about it.

The time to purchase a major medical health insurance plan is now. You won’t be able to get one once you’re in need of it. No insurance plan will cover someone who’s already in the hospital, for example. Taking the time to compare prices and options on these plans now is a smart move toward your financial future. Give yourself and your family that extra bit of protection we all need and invest in a major medical plan today.

This is the fourth installment in our health insurance series. Be sure to check back for updates…

HSA health insurance stands for Health Savings Account, and it’s something you should consider if you have a high deductible plan. In an HSA, you contribute funds to the plan at the beginning of the year all at once, or throughout the year in payroll deductions. The funds you contribute aren’t taxable and can roll over to the next year if you don’t use them all before year’s end. You can use the funds in the plan to pay for medical expenses not covered by your insurance, such as co-pays and prescriptions.

Unlike flexible spending accounts, where your employer owns the account and its associated funds, YOU own your HSA health insurance account. You can use your funds without any federal tax liability at all, whenever you like. This type of account is essentially a way to save for upcoming medical expenses before they occur.

Another good point about HSA plans is that you can use them as you see fit, without the approval of a primary care physician or any other type of administrator. As of right now, you can contribute a maximum of $2,900 per individual per year to an HSA account, and a maximum of $5,800 per family per year. If you leave your health insurance plan that the HSA supports, you won’t be able to make further contributions to your account. However, the funds that are already there will remain available for your use.

You can access your HSA funds in one of several ways. The most popular way is through the use of a debit card that is loaded with your funds by your employer. You can then use the debit card just as you would a credit card; in fact, most debit cards for these accounts carry the MasterCard and Visa logos, so you can use them wherever those kinds of cards are accepted. Other employers may provide you with checks you can write on the account, while other employers may ask that you pay eligible medical expenses up front, and then apply for reimbursement through the account. However you access your funds, an HSA account is a wonderful choice for anyone who wants to be sure the money to pay medical expenses is there when they need it.

This is the third installment in our health insurance series. Be sure to check back for updates…