Five Tips To Remember When Shopping For Health Insurance For Individuals

In a perfect world, health insurance for individuals would pay for every health issue that may arise—pregnancy, blood transfusions, sick and well care, minor and major surgery, hospital stays, etc.

But the truth is health insurance benefits typically are limited and they seldom will cover 100% of the costs, which is why it's so important to read the policy's fine print. This is especially true for individual policies since these plans may not offer benefits as comprehensive as those in group health insurance plans.

Whether you apply for individual health insurance directly from a company or through a broker (either online or offline), you will essentially be evaluated in terms of health risks you (and your family, if applicable) represent. In an effort to assess this level of risk, you will be asked to complete a comprehensive health questionnaire. It is from this risk determination that your premium is generated.

However, before you buy that policy, here are five things you should keep in mind:

1. If at all possible, settle for nothing less than a policy that is "guaranteed renewable". This means that your insurer cannot cancel your coverage if you become sick. As long as you continue to pay your health insurance premium, your coverage continues.

2. Even though group health insurance is typically a better option (it is usually more comprehensive and less expensive than individual health insurance), individual coverage is certainly a better option than leaving yourself uninsured. If you think you can go without health insurance, you are exposing yourself to great financial risk should the unthinkable (serious injury or illness) occur.

3. Most people, of course, would prefer to have their employer provide group health insurance for the reasons mentioned above. For group policies, the specifics of the policy are negotiated between the insurer and employer or organization. However, for individual health insurance, you have a certain degree of control over your policy. You can typically choose your deductible amount, co-payment, and even negotiate to have a particular clause included or excluded, depending on the situation.

4. Be sure to check the Pre-Existing Conditions Limitation if you already have any medical conditions, and ask your agent if the company will be excluding your conditions permanently on your policy.

5. Check the health insurance company's A.M. Best Company rating. Choose only companies that have an A or A+ rating. If the company has earned a high rating at this national rating registry, then the company should have literature showing their rating with an explanation of what it means.

Following these five tips will help you choose a health insurance policy which will protect you from catastrophic medical bills. Regardless of where you are in the process of acquiring health insurance - just starting out, or at the point of evaluating several individual health insurance quotes - take the time to do your homework so you can choose wisely when it comes to finding health insurance for individuals.

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Five Tips to Remember When Applying For Health Insurance For Individuals