How to Compare Medical Insurance Quotes Quickly

Most Americans need health insurance and finding a great plan at a low price can take time. One great benefit about the Internet is that you can use it to find and gather information quickly. Using it to your advantage, you can find the right insurance plan and the best price quickly. You don't have to visit a health insurance agent or go see an insurance company. Instead, usually you only need to fill out a short to medium sized form or application in order to receive a quote. Besides price, when considering online medical insurance quotes, there are certain medical insurance details or factors you need to consider in order to effectively compare medical insurance plans or quotes.

There are three ways by which you can apply for a medical insurance policy. You can contact insurance companies by phone, use a broker or by just use your computer online. Out of theses three ways, getting a quote online is the easiest. In order to get the best medical insurance quotes, you usually fill out form on websites in which you will be asked specific questions. Try to use forms that ask you many questions, because that means the quotes are more tailored to the type of plan you will need and therefore the price is more accurate.

There are many factors to consider as well when shopping for medical insurance online. When you do get an insurance quote online, in order to effectively compare health insurance quotes you need to make sure the the companies you are comparing have similar plans for your needs. Understanding how emergency visits are covered, in patient and out patient costs, deductibles and copays and other medical insurance details is important. You need to compare all aspects of a plan and not base your decision solely on price or premiums. Overall, Before choosing a plan, make sure that it provides the necessary coverage at an affordable price.

You will notice that with any medical insurance company you work with, they will ask you about your medical history any preconditions you may have. Usually your monthly cost or premium amount can be reduced if your state of health is good.

Overall, there are a few advantages to shopping for medical insurance online. First you can quickly obtain quotes for different medical insurance companies which saves you time. Second, the access you have to quick quotes actually saves you money because you can peruse different plans from many companies quickly. Another advantage of using online insurance quote is that you can avoid the agents and brokers who stand in between you and the insurance company. Last but not least, make sure you do your due diligence in comparing any plan. Some people go for the cheap insurance quotes. Be weary of insurance priced way below competitors with similar plans. A good general rule to is that when comparing plans deductibles usually go up and your copay goes down.

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Discount Plans Offer Viable Alternative to Health Insurance For Small Business Owners

In light of recent events with the economy, small business owners have many things to consider when managing their business finances. One of those considerations is providing health benefits to their employees. Providing health and dental benefits can be costly; however, surveys consistently show that insufficient availability of health benefits is second only to bad working conditions as the reason that employees change jobs voluntarily. It's a fact that companies with health benefits have higher employee retention rates. While the cost of healthcare and health insurance continues to rise and businesses are looking to reduce their overall costs, small business owners are confronted with the dilemma of providing affordable benefits.

Consumer-driven healthcare plans are an increasingly popular option in the healthcare industry, especially among small and medium size businesses. The basic concept behind consumer-driven healthcare is that although deductibles will be higher, monthly premiums will be significantly less, therefore substantially reducing healthcare costs over the long run. In fact, a new survey by employee-benefit advisory company, United Benefit Advisors, Inc., shows that the total number of consumer-driven plans has increased this year by 43%, now accounting for 13% of all plans offered by employers. Since monthly premiums are considerably less than traditional insurance, it allows employers to provide benefits to their employees while saving them substantial amounts of money. They can be set up as contributory or non-contributory plans and can be offered to both full time and part time employees, unlike traditional insurance, where the cost of providing benefits to part time employees would be prohibitive.

The various benefits of discount plans over traditional insurance are many. For example, there is typically no waiting period, no limit on the number of services or visits, no age restrictions or physicals, no paperwork or claims, and ongoing medical conditions are accepted. In many cases, especially with dental insurance, consumers could pay less for services received with discount plans than with conventional insurance due to plan limitations, deductibles and caps.

For small and medium size business owners looking to provide affordable benefits for their employees or are simply looking to reduce costs, discount plans are an option worth looking into.

For more information about discount plans, visit http://www.ameriplanusa.com or call 847-590-0192.

Christine Andersen,
Benefits Specialist
847-590-0192
CAndersen@ameriplan.net

Mental Health Insurance and Parity

Mental Health Insurance will soon be treated the same as medical and surgical benefits. Addiction Treatment benefits will have the same rate of return as those as a surgical procedure. When the congressional economic recovery package was signed on October 3rd the Mental Health and Addiction Parity Act was a rider on that package.

This Act will lead to wholesale changes in the way insurance benefits are written for those suffering with mental health problems and addiction problems. Since 1973 when HMOS started limiting the treatment benefits for addicts and alcoholics the number of days allowed in drug rehabs has dwindled to what it is today. Some policies allow only detox with no reimbursement for any continuing care or aftercare.

Families faced with the financial cost for addiction treatment often felt betrayed by the provider when the coverage just wasn't there. Some people would mortgage their homes others would be forced to put the bill on their credit cards and still others just went without treatment.

The Mental Health and Addiction Parity Act will impact over 100 million people enrolled in state regulated or employer-funded plans. The bill will go into effect in January 1, 2010. This is not a free pass for drug rehab centers and eating disorder treatment programs to bill providers outrageously. Benefits will continue to be managed and medical necessity will still have to be proven. What this bill does accomplish is group health plans will be required to raise the cap to match the medical surgical plans giving the coverage necessary for addicts, alcoholics and those with mental health problems to receive the help they deserve.

Dan C's career in the addiction field spans twenty-five years. He has held positions in all phases of administration and clinical services in Treatment Facilities throughout the state of Florida. He is currently employed by http://www.recoveryconnection.org

Comparing Individual and Family Health Insurance

If you are working to have your family covered by a health insurance plan, you may be looking at a number of options for how to best get everyone the coverage they need.

Generally, there are two ways to go - individual health insurance plans or family health insurance plans. An individual health insurance plan will do just what you would expect, insure just one individual, by name. A family health insurance plan on the other hand will cover all the members of your immediate family, usually two parents and all their children.

If you have a large family, what you need to have may be a no-brainer - have family insurance that will cover you, your spouse and all the kids. But what if there aren't as many of you? Today's families come in all sizes. Some couples have only one child. Other families have only one parent with a child or two. In these cases, a family plan may not be the best deal out there.

For the most part the price of a family plan is meant to cover two parents and two children. If your family is smaller than this, it is a good idea to compare the price of individual policies for the members of your family as well as the price for a family plan.

There are some important considerations to make before you decide what type of plan you want to go with other than what the premiums will be.

What are the deductibles? The premium is just one part of what you will pay for health insurance. You also need to know what the deductible will be once you need medical attention. If your deductibles are too high, you may always feel like you are paying a fortune in medical bills before the insurance ever kicks in.

Is your doctor included? If you are very fond of your particular doctor, you need to make sure that person is in the plan that you go with. Different insurance companies have different networks of doctors that they approve of. Make sure your doctor is included.

Are there preexisting conditions? If anyone in your family has preexisting health conditions, you could be in for trouble. Many insurance companies will not accept individual policies for those who have preexisting health conditions like diabetes or cancer. In this case you will have to look back to a family plan that must accept all the members of the family.

Do you have high-risk habits? Health insurance companies are keeping an eye on a lot of health conditions these days to see who is at risk and who is likely going to be less of an expense to them. Two of the things they look at are if the candidate is a smoker or overweight as both of these are linked to medical conditions down the road.

Steve Sikes is an MBA and writes articles on insurance and other financial products. To read other educational articles on insurance at the InsuredItAll Learning Center or to get free insurance quotes for auto, home, health, life or long term care insurance, you will want to visit http://www.InsuredItAll.com

Importance of Group Health Insurance

Term group plan means that all the employees must compulsorily accept the coverage despite of physical condition. Usually the employee has to pay the first premium within 30 days of employment or he will be forfeited from the right to automatic coverage. Group health plans include employer sponsored ERISA plans - both insured and self insured and non- ERISA plans such as church plans. Group insurance is generally the least expensive kind. Some organizations offer only one health insurance plan and others offer a variety of plans like indemnity plan, health maintenance organization (HMO), or a preferred provider organization (PPO). This type of group health insurance is famous in California.

Indemnity health insurance plans gives you the benefit of choosing a licensed doctor of your choice and then pay him for the services at the time of the visit. To receive payment for medical expenses you have to fill a form and send them to insurer. Sometimes your doctor may do this for you. You also have to keep receipts for prescription drugs. If you want this type of insurance you have to keep track of all your medical expenses. This type of plan is mostly found in rural areas. Certain features include your choice of deductibles, coinsurance levels, maximums and benefit levels.

In health maintenance organization (HMO) you have to pay a monthly fee called a premium. But you can't choose a licensed doctor of your choice in this type of health insurance. The health insurance company has a huge number of physician networks who provide a wide variety of medical benefits. From this network, you choose a primary care physician who will take care of your health related problems. The choice of doctors and hospitals are limited those within the network since they have agreements with the HMO to provide your health care. The health care services generally require you to make a co-payment. If the HMO is efficient and keeps its members healthy, it will make a profit. But if there are too many members who need care its profits are smaller or it may lose money.

Preferred provider organizations are made up of physicians, hospitals, or other providers which provide health care services at a reduced fee. PPOs offer more flexibility by allowing members to meet a licensed doctor who are out of network at a greater expense to the policy holder. But if visits are made within the network it requires only a small fee. There is often a deductible for out of network expenses and a higher co-payment.

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Free Health Insurance Leads - Exclusively For Your State

Everywhere I look on the internet I see that when it comes to looking for health insurance leads, that typically you will have to pay anywhere from $5 a lead all the way up to $20 or more if they are exclusive health insurance leads.

The lower end priced leads are lower for a reason because they are shared. A typical shared lead is resold about 3 - 5 times and then in some cases I have found these leads to be resold up to 10 times which not only puts a bunch of stress on the health insurance agent, but also on the consumer because they were definitely not expecting that many phone calls to their house.

The higher end priced leads are typically exclusive meaning that if you were to purchase these leads it will cost you anywhere from $15 up to about $25. The companies claim that you will have a higher percentage of closing this type of lead simply because you are supposed to be the only person that gets it. In most cases this is true, but every once-in-awhile you will find that still the person fills out more then just 1 form and so you could be back in the same situation as with a shared lead.

Now what if I were to tell you that you could have the best of both worlds and even for free? You probably would think that this would be some type of trial period or the first "X" amount of leads are free, but then it's "X" amount per lead afterwords. I totally understand your skepticism as not only you, but I have experienced disappointment after disappointment for trying to get good leads at a good price.

Now let me share with you how you can obtain these free health insurance leads. I have put together a site that will allow everyone to win. This site will no doubt be able to do what I claim as long as we work together. I really don't need your money, but I will need something else from you.

To see how you can obtain exclusive rights for health insurance leads in your state I want you to visit my site and click on "agents" and then contact me if your state is still available because no one else is doing what I'm doing.

I look forward to hearing from you and working with you!

Steve Blanchard

http://mymedquote.net

Discount Plans Offer Viable Alternative to Traditional Health Insurance

In light of recent events with the economy, consumers are searching for more affordable ways to save on the increasing costs of healthcare and health insurance. The average cost of a family insurance policy has topped $12,000 a year. While most families are fortunate enough to be part of group plans and therefore are only paying a portion of that premium, the premiums continue to rise resulting in a larger amount workers have deducted to pay for health coverage. For those not covered by their employers, these premiums must be paid completely out of pocket, not to mention the co-pays and deductibles associated with insurance plans. For the unfortunate 47 million Americans without any type of health coverage and another 100 million without dental coverage, the costs of healthcare for themselves and their families can be astronomical.

Consumer driven healthcare plans are an increasingly popular option in the healthcare industry. The basic concept behind consumer driven healthcare is that although deductibles will be higher, monthly premiums will be significantly less, therefore substantially reducing healthcare costs over the long run. Discount health and dental plans fall into this category. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars in monthly premiums, the cost of discount plans are a fraction of the cost. When members go to a provider (doctor, dentist, chiropractor, etc) instead of paying full price, as they would without any type of coverage, the consumer pays at discounted rates.

The various benefits of discount plans over traditional insurance are many. For example, there is typically no waiting period, no limit on the number of services or visits, no age restrictions or physicals, no paperwork or claims, and ongoing medical conditions are accepted. In many cases, especially with dental insurance, consumers could pay less for services received with discount plans than with conventional insurance due to plan limitations, deductibles and caps.

For those who cannot afford insurance, those who cannot obtain traditional plans because of pre-existing conditions or those in need of supplemental benefits, discount health and dental plans might be a viable alternative. The discounts will vary from company to company and therefore it is important to research the various discount plans available.

For more information about health and dental discount programs, visit http://www.ameriplanusa.com or call 847-590-0192.

Christine Andersen,
Benefits Specialist
CAndersen@ameriplan.net