Health insurance seems to get more expensive every year. It also feels as though they are covering less each year. There are several things that you can do or consider in order to save money when it comes to health care. Your decisions really should be based on your personal situation in regards to you and your family’s health and financial condition.
One option is to purchase insurance through your employer. This is a good option, because the insurance rate will not jump up if you become sick. It will increase as a group plan a little every year, but it is not quite the same as having an individual policy. If you work for a large employer you may have several options to choose from.
Whether you are self employed and purchasing your own insurance or you have several plans available through your insurer, then you need to look at several options. It is important to consider the deductible, the amount of the co-payments, the percentage that you need to cover and the out of pocket maximum. You should also consider how much you plan on using the insurance. Since my family is still young and pretty healthy we have never made it to the out of pocket maximum. However I do know families that reach that point. You may want to calculate the savings if you purchase a lower out pocket maximum plan.
Another thing that you can do to save yourself from unexpected medical costs is to have a sinking fund for medical expenses. This could simply be the amount of your out-of-pocket maximum for your family. Then you really don’t need to worry if a major medical problem hits your family. You should also take advantage of the flexible spending accounts available to you at work.
If you are purchasing insurance for yourself, you may want to consider purchasing a high deductible policy. When you are do this you need to carefully weigh the lower premiums against what you would be paying out of pocket. You will need to plan to pay for all bills up to your deductible. You can take advantage of the health savings account with this plan as well.
No matter what you should make sure that you have health insurance. It is too easy to be hit by a catastrophe and then have no way to recover. Health care is expensive. You do not want to have to worry about the cost of your treatments when you are trying to recover physically and emotionally from dealing with a major illness.
You can also visit the Insurance blog to read more about your options.