Be Sure Your Insurance Plan Has Integrity

Unfortunately there are a lot of fraudulent health insurance companies out there. Usually, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. You will get what you pay for unless you do a thorough background search. If you do not do your research, you may find that your plan may be operated under an unlicensed insurer which means you can lose your coverage at anytime and be left with thousands of dollars of unpaid medical bills and scrambling to find new coverage. In order to avoid this, contact your state insurance department (www.insurance.naic.org/state_web_map.htm) through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, www.naic.org. Be sure to ask for references of the insurance company you are inquiring about so that you can find out how quick they were on paying claims, if they honored claims at all. The NAIC has developed a website for consumers to find information about buying health insurance; www.insureu.org. Check with the Labor Department’s Office of Investigations to see if the insurance company is under investigation. You may also want to check the ratings on your insurance policy in the Standard & Poor's and A.M. Best, www.insbuyer.com/insurancenrating.htm. You can also find a partial list of insurance companies under investigation on the Coalition against Insurance Fraud, http://insurancefraud.org/Hall_of_Shame_05/hallofshame_set.html.

Small Business Resources

Comparing Quotes

If you are in the market for health insurance, chances are you are a small business owner or an independent contractor. Whether you are deciding between group insurance benefits offered through a professional group or an individual insurance you would like to purchase directly from the insurer, there are two key factors that should guide your decision: total out-of-pocket costs vs. covered services.

Many people only focus on premiums, but premiums are only part of the story.

One plan may offer lower premiums but have an unrealistically high deductible. Another plan may have a higher premium but offer a more reasonable deductible and cover a broader array of services. It is suggested that you sit down carefully and work out the total costs for each health insurance plan you are considering, including the annual premium amount, the deductible amount, any co-pays, and out-of-pocket maximums.

With health care insurance, you generally get what you pay for. However, whatever plan you choose, make sure it covers the types of services you reasonably expect to need during the coverage period, and that the total out-of-pocket expenses which fit within your budget.

Insurance Resources by State

Questions to Consider

Long-term care insurance policies are quite varied. Before you can make an intelligent decision about which plan to buy, you should gather some basic information. While some of your questions may be considered basic, ask the plan representative what type of care is covered. Getting long-term care insurance information is important.

• Does the policy cover nursing home care and assisted living care?
• Will the plan pay for home health care services provided by visiting nurses and therapists?
• Are housecleaning and food preparation services provided by a maid or home health aide covered?
• What will the daily benefit amount be?
• Is there a waiting period before benefits kick in?
• And what is the benefit period?

Once you have narrowed your choices down, have a detailed discussion, and get it in writing, regarding exclusions specific to the policy you are considering.

Shopping for Short-Term Health Insurance

You can find information on short-term health insurance using all the same methods you would use to find standard health insurance:

• You can check with your state's insurance commission to receive a list of approved insurance providers for your state.
• You can also check with your existing insurance agent to see if he or she represents any companies that provide short-term insurance.
• You can contact companies you know offer health insurance in your state directly.
• Researching your insurance needs online at any one of a number of legitimate online insurance quote Web sites is also a good idea.

Use sites like Insurelane.com or Monsterquote.com, portals that will direct you to other companies that provide the specific type of insurance for which you are looking.

Purchasing Student Health Insurance

Medicare Coverage

Some of the health care services not covered by Medicare include anything not considered medically reasonable and necessary, based on a subjective interpretation! Other items that are not covered by Medicare are:

• Long-term nursing home stays
• Custodial care in a nursing home
• Private duty home care nurses
• Homemaker services
• Routine dental services and dentures
• Routine physicals
• Prescription medications
• Preventive care
• Vision exams and eyeglasses
• Hearing tests and hearing aids
• Routine foot care
• Physician charges above Medicare's approved amount
• Any care received outside the U.S.

As you can see, many of the services not covered by Medicare are the very types of services those individual's who qualify for Medicare are likely to need.

Finding Low Cost Health Insurance

The statistics on health insurance affordability are grim: Since 2000, health insurance costs have spiked 59% while in that same period of time worker's pay has only increased 12%. With the cost of health insurance squeezing the family budget ever tighter, more and more families are dropping the coverage they have because they cannot afford it. Finding low cost health insurance is difficult these days.

Your best bet as far as insuring a family is to try to get employer-sponsored health insurance. Even though you will likely need to contribute to cover the cost of the premiums, employers are able to get far better rates for a group than you would be able to get buying an individual policy. A plus is that employers will pay part of the premium.

If your employer does not offer insurance, or if you are a freelance contract worker or small business owner, see about joining a professional organization or union. Many of them offer access to group health insurance for members. Finally, if you have to consider an individual (private) health insurance plan, a health maintenance organization (HMO) will be the least expensive followed by a preferred provider organization (PPO). While HMOs require cutting through a lot of red tape and will limit your medical care options in terms of where and when you can receive services, most offer fairly robust coverage to families.

The Costs Of Short-Term Insurance

Insurance Terminology

Read Each Section on The Bill for Interpretation

A medical bill from a physician or a hospital admission looks different from a credit card or any other bill you may receive. The information contained on the physician and hospital bills is universal among similar type providers. The key fields tell you about your visit and what has happened since: Sender: A number of physicians and hospitals employ an outside medical billing company to bill and collect for the services they provide to patients; Statement date and payment due dates; Patient: This is sometimes different from who the statement is addressed to; Description of Services: The listed procedures and services the patient received on date of service; Explanation: Explains the reason the claim was not paid or was paid; and, The Amount Due: This is the difference between the charged amount, non-allowed amount negotiated by the health insurance carrier to pay for these services, amount paid by the insurance carrier and payments made by you. If you go to a participating provider the amount due from you should not include the non-allowed amount.