Where you can get affordable health insurance?

What is health insurance

The main reason why you need an affordable health insurance is to help you plan in advance in case of unexpected expensive emergency. The only way that you can accomplish this is to compare the prices of most of the leading insurance companies and also choose a better plan health insurance right for you. At the time, getting a cheap health insurance scheme was simply unaffordable. But these days, individuals, small groups, families and students can choose a plan insurance which is best for them, such as the acquisition of an insurance scheme that ensures that an individual suffering from any previous medical condition is not excluded.

Private health insurance plan is totally unrestricted open market, for those who do not yet have an insurance plan should consider taking a plane. For those seeking good health insurance program, which is possible with the help of specific companies that specializes in providing healthcare for the people and their requirements and also stay within your budget.

Also for people who do not want to use a company, then they can use the internet. An important way what Americans obtain insurance cover is mainly by their employers. Many employers receive them health insurance coverage to their workers for a limited time, allowing them to receive health insurance coverage. The internet offers an option for cheaper health insurance. There are many companies that provide all types of health insurance plans and which makes it possible for you and your family to have a reasonable and affordable health insurance plan specific. Discover what kind of reputation of the company and how long the company has been undertaken is a smart idea.

It is advisable to also in ensuring that they have been licensed in your State, because it is not helpful in obtaining insurance with a shape that has failed and the cant get accurate health insurance, you want to have a kind of ideal for you, many agents is aid work hard for you, so you may have an affordable insurance plan that you and your family can live with without great expense. Everyone wants the best insurance for themselves and for their families, but only the best to do this with premiums low health care insurance and complete coverage.

What are the benefits of health insurance?

It is difficult to have the right and the best care health insurance. To not get confused, he must decide which is best by making its own extensive research. Includes the first step to retrieve credentials, and also their recent performances of the company very you intend. Like on outfits insurance is an audit of the background of individuals before accepting proposals, on should also examine the financial situation, including the insurer, client care in so doing, stand you the chance to know that the best health insurance company. An important means to get you better ratings for these organisms such as A.m. or Moody is using the better business bureau. Many employers use to attract or even maintain their quality employers sickness insurance scheme. Health insurance coverage could be a personal diet or a diet group organized and sponsored by employers for employers working between 20-29 hours per week.

Companies also do not add cost benefits along with insurance, the price of their products and services. During the past decades, the cost of health insurance increased dramatically, exceeding the overall rate of inflation in most recent years.

The different types of health insurance includes individual health insurance, affordable insurance employee who is also known as group insurance, affordable business insurance etc., affordable family health insurance your monthly insurance is determined by many different things. For example, most premium-based or depending on your age. For your health rates change accordingly with the type of health insurance you have. If your health insurance is primarily for yourself or your family, the procedures must certainly have an impact on you are young or advanced age, receiving employment business health insurance auto adjust your bonus depending on your age and this will also affect the cost of your health insurance quote.

What are the disadvantages of health insurance?

That unexpected events can occur at any time, one will never know when an accident is likely to occur, whether the need to be admitted to hospital for sutures or broken, you may be able to receive assistance quickly receive a huge bill, unlike when you do not have a health your beers all cost credit rating insurance worry-free. But you can prevent all this problems happening and also protect your credits for your future health financially. Increase the amount of your deduction for health insurance is another way in which you can help ensure you that your insurance rates are lowered. This higher monthly premium is required for anyone who has a problem existing health requires extensive medical treatment to get a variety of quotes from insurance companies that meets your standards of health and budgets is a wise decision when selection a Medicare. The search can be done online and it will have saved you money as well.

Many people feel that they are healthy enough, so that they do not need health insurance because they have never had any major medical problem, but one thing to note against possible health insurance protection against the health problem that may occur in the future. It could happen to you in particular or a member of your family, then why not planning have an affordable insurance plan today.

Kingsley Duru has a Bachelor's degree (banks and finance). Insuranceavenue.info offers our visitors the best articles insurance review and efforts to find the best possible deals for our clients. [Http://www.insuranceavenue.info] travel insurance, insurance, business insurance, long term visit avenue insurance [http://www.insuranceavenue.info].

Florida insurance - take advantage of price transparency the Internet

Florida health insurance companies are now feeling the effects of transparency of prices higher than the Internet. Now is more a process of days or even weeks to get several quotes from the top Florida health insurance health insurance. The simplest and most effective to get Florida health insurance is simply to make high top health insurance companies in the State (golden rule United Healthcare, Aetna and Humana) compete for your business!

If grimacing you at the idea of a United Health Officer, officer Aetna and Humana agent any grouping around you, among other health insurance Florida agents swarm and trying to push political business read you and then click; insurance shopping on the Internet has simplified everything. There are many health insurance Florida sites that offer quotes for health insurance in Florida, but there are some very important distinctions between the different types.

There are two main types of Web sites that offer buyers Florida health insurance health insurance quotes Florida: marketing agencies and insurance.

Marketing organizations are selling insurance, are not regulated by any Department of insurance and generally have no knowledge whatsoever about the Florida insurance. However, they can offer consumers a service somewhat attractive. How can they help with the purchase of health insurance?

They act as an intermediary between buyers health insurance Florida and Florida health insurance agents. When Mrs. Smith in Tampa, Florida requests a quote insurance then the marketing company sells its information as an advance payment 5 or Florida, insurance agents more.

Ignoring the question of the qualifications of insurance agents who will be purchasing your information and privacy issues, there is the largest and the most practical question of really want you to 5 + actively seeking your business insurance agents?

Imagine that each insurance agent is taught in training call you at least 5 times and email "surrender you at least 3 times before" to you as an opportunity for insurance sales: This means that you have received 25 phone calls and e-mails 15 of various insurance agents!

The second type of site Web which provides Florida quotes insurance is website which is managed by an insurance organization (note that it is very important to find only a Florida insurance independent agency - which means a body which is not bound to work with a single insurance company but can show you all business health insurance Florida health insurance quotes.) This is why we will ignore the near third group of Web sites offering Florida health insurance quotes: health insurance carrier Web sites themselves. This can be a good service, but time-consuming. There is a better way to shop Florida health insurance. Read on-).

Sites more independent insurance agency offers a feature that allows you to request quotes health insurance in Florida. However, there is a much better way of Florida health insurance shop! Instead of waiting for your request insurance quotes to be filled; Looking for a Web site that provides instant and living in Florida quotes from top companies Medicare health insurance in Florida.

With Florida LIVE instant health insurance quotes you have the best of both worlds: you will receive the benefits of competitive prices by viewing the top Florida health insurance companies quote coast to coast (the highlight of the website marketing organization model) as well as personal assistance, expert (the highlight of the model site Web insurance agency). Not to mention the added advantage of visualization of insurance health quotes different health insurance companies in the same format - allowing easy comparisons of side to side benefits. This enables a comparison of real "apples apples".

Display up to 20 direct Florida insurance quotes from top Florida page such as Aetna, Humana and Golden health insurance companies rule the United Healthcare in less than 20 seconds! See LIVE quotes health insurance Florida now and take advantage of the transparency of the Internet prices!

Get free health insurance quotes by comparing all health insurance plans top page in your code zip - less time it takes to brush your teeth!

Comparison buy instantly and real-time display free quotes health insurance Florida insurance companies: Aetna, Humana, United health care and much more.

Do you need insurance coverage? Learn how to choose your insurance with confidence and ease

Four steps to you get the most of your health and insurance cover research, purchase and understanding health insurance coverage options are not always easy tasks. Here are a few easy to follow on how to begin your journey through all the madness of health care tips online.

Step one - create a current list of your health conditions, medications and any current health. You may also want to take note of your main concerns and questions about the choice of an adequate health insurance.

Step 2 - retrieves information from multiple insurance providers. Plans not all care are the same. It is a value of time and efforts to review more than once insurance policy. It can save you time, money and improve the quality of health care in the future.

Some of the great names of health insurance can be an excellent place to begin your comparisons such as: Gold rule insurance, Celtic insurance, American Medical Security insurance, life insurance, insurance UNICARE, Humana Insurance and Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance Michigan-just for a few.

Those of you help Michigan Medicaid and Medicare must first meet the qualification requirements. Each County may have requirements, such as income and much more. Check with your local Department of health for more information.

Step 3 - review each plan insurance benefits under these sections of the basic coverage notes: Gyn specialist care, hospitalization, prescription, dental, vision, Ob - emergency care drugs, physical examinations, preventive and alternative care. Remember to evaluate using the notes you made in step one.

Co-pays, limits and deductible amounts in each section of the expenditure for each insurance plan that you consider carefully. The goal is to make what is called "comparison shopping". As you go through this process, likely one or two health policies will be appear to meet your needs better than others.

Step 4 - once you have chosen two or three possible insurance schemes take notes, questions and concerns of each. Now it is time to get your questions answered and to make your decision.

It is important to make sure that you speak with a qualified, licensed health insurance agent. Please feel free to ask questions until you feel that you have all the information you need to make a good choice.

Other useful information

Compare online health insurance and save time

Take your time to find what you need at a price that offer you. He is great subject searching options that you can compare plans online health insurance and benefits on your own, without talking to different representatives. Most health insurance companies provide free online and free online instant rate quotes. Everything that is necessary is to enable you to quickly complete a secure application. In the matter of minutes, you have your results in front of you. Just in case you have any questions these companies have licensed professional health insurance are waiting for your call.

Keep it in! Who can benefit from temporary health insurance?

Temporary insurance or short term medical insurance is also available in Michigan and will allow you to have a cover for a temporary period. This type of insurance is not good for everyone. Inquiries of this kind of health care generally comes from those who are between jobs, seasonal, laid-off employees and can same adult young advantage recently from their parents health plan. Plans tend to be somewhere between six months, but some have been known to go to twelve months.

Temporary health insurance forms are much simpler than permanent insurance. Coverage on a short term plan can begin as soon as 24 hours. This insurance applies invisible accidents and disease. Because it is temporary, they do not cover usually preventive care, vision, dental or pre-existing conditions. For pre-existing conditions, you can check your COBRA benefits. There are other ways to keep your health insurance after the loss of your job

Don't let not a recent job prevent you the care you need! For example if we expected a loved one, the last thing you want is to lose your maternity insurance. There is another solution, called consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act or COBRA. This type of insurance normally last longer that insurance temporary or short-term, but it is still a type of temporary insurance. Normally political COBRA may last approximately eighteen months. For more information on policy extended to the COBRA, plans speak to your employer in terms of their specific health insurance carrier. Many people don't know about temporary health insurance coverage. In fact, people take coverage opportunities all the time due to the lack of knowledge. Temporary health insurance benefit is to fill a gap in coverage. Although temporary coverage is fantastic to have, it does not replace the permanent cover. Michigan HIPAA do and how they might you effect

If you currently pre-existing conditions and are looking for in the short term health insurance WAIT! You can purchase that cover you and then make it you unacceptable for the care you need health coverage. HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA plans are primarily for those who have pre-existing conditions and may have trouble obtaining insurance. These plans can be extremely expensive. The federal HIPAA law gives someone an immediate access to comparable coverage leaving job providing coverage.

Become familiar with your rights and consult your benefit Advisor to discuss the best options for you. You can take your health with health insurance companies where there is a plan to fit the need of the world. Reading and doing your homework on plans that relate to your needs can help eliminate unnecessary and help information, you will find much faster right health insurance plan.

Copyright 2006 Lisa Ip

Lisa Ip is President of gourdes assurances that it was founded in 1994, Madison Heights, Michigan. For more information on insurance in Michigan, visit http://www.uniforceinsurance.com or call 888-302-rates

Pros and cons on the group insurance VS individual insurance

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In this article we will explore the reasons that motivate employers to get group health insurance for employees and we will look at the advantages and disadvantages from both points of view.

Group Health Insurance VS Individual Private Health Insurance

Probably the most significant distinguishing characteristic of group insurance is the substitution of group underwriting for individual underwriting. In group cases, no individual evidence of insurability is usually required, and benefit levels can be substantial, with few, if any, important limitations.

Group underwriting normally is not concerned with the health or other insurability aspects of any particular individual. Instead, it aims to obtain a group of individual lives or, what is even more important, an aggregation of such groups of lives that will yield a predictable rate of mortality or morbidity. If a sufficient number of groups of lives is obtained, and if these groups are reasonably homogeneous in nature, then the mortality or morbidity rate will be predictable. The point is that the group becomes the unit of underwriting, and insurance principles may be applied to it just as in the case of the individual. To assure that the groups obtained will be reasonably homogeneous, the underwriting process in group insurance aims to control adverse selection by individuals within a group.

In underwriting group insurance, then, certain important features should be present that either are inherent in the nature of the group itself or may be applied in a positive way to avoid serious adverse selection such as:

Insurance Incidental to the Group: The insurance should be incidental to the group; that is, the members of the group should have come together for some purpose other than to obtain insurance. For example, the group insurance furnished to the employees of a given employer must not be the feature that motivates the formation and existence of the group.

Flow of Persons through the Group: There should be a steady flow of persons through the group; that is, there must be an influx of new young lives into the group and an out flow from the group of the older and impaired lives. With groups of actively working employees, it may be assumed that they are in average health.

Automatic Determination of Benefits: Group insurance underwriting commonly requires an automatic basis for determining the amount of benefits on individual lives, which is beyond the control of the employer or employees. If the amount of benefits taken were completely optional, it would be possible to select against the insurer because those in poor health would tend to insure heavily and the healthy ones might tend to elect minimum coverage.

As the group mechanism has evolved, however, insurers have responded to demands from the marketplace, particularly large employers, for more flexibility in the selection of benefits. This flexibility typically is expressed in optional amounts of life and health insurance in excess of basic coverage provided by the employer and in more health care financing choices. Also, increasingly popular cafeteria plans allow participating employees to select among an array of benefits using a predetermined allowance of employer funds. Individuals select, subject to certain basic coverage's being required, a combination of benefits that best meet his or her individual needs.

Minimum Participation by the Group: Another underwriting control is the requirement that substantially all eligible persons in a given group be covered by insurance. In plans in which the employee pays a portion of the premium (contributory), generally at least 75 percent of the eligible employees must join the plan if coverage is to be effective. In the case of noncontributory plans, 100 percent participation is required. By covering a large proportion of a given group, the insurance company gains a safeguard against an undue proportion of substandard lives. In cases in which employees refuse the insurance for religious or other reasons that do not involve any elements of selection, this rule is relaxed.

Third Party Sharing of Cost: A portion of the cost of a group plan ideally should be borne by the employer or some third party, such as a labor union or trade association. The noncontributory employer-pay-all plan is simple, and it gives the employer full control over the plan. It provides for insurance of all eligible employees and thus, eliminates any difficulties involved in connection with obtaining the consent of a sufficient number of employees to meet participation requirements. Also, there is no problem of distributing the cost among various employees, as in the contributory plan.

Contributory plans usually are less costly to the employer. Hence, with employee contributions, the employer is likely to arrange for more adequate protection for the employees. It can also be argued that, if the employee contributes toward his or her insurance, he or she will be more impressed with its value and will appreciate it more. On the other hand, the contributory plan has a number of disadvantages. Its operation is more complicated, and this at times, increases administrative cost considerably.

Each employee must consent to contribute toward his or her insurance, and as stated before, a minimum percentage of the eligible group must consent to enter the arrangement. New employees entering the business must be informed of their insurance privilege. If the plan is contributory, employees may not be entitled to the insurance until they have been with the company for a period of time. If they do not agree to be covered by the plan within a period of 31 days, they may be required to provide satisfactory evidence of insurability to become eligible. Some noncontributory plans also have these probationary periods.

Efficient Administrative Organization: A single administrative organization should be able and willing to act on behalf of the insured group. In the usual case, this is the employer. In the case of a contributory plan, there must be a reasonably simple method, such as payroll deduction, by which the master policy owner can collect premiums. An automatic method is desirable for both an administrative and underwriting perspective. A number of miscellaneous controls of underwriting significance are typically used in group insurance plans, but the preceding discussion permits an appreciation of the group underwriting underwriting theory. The discussion applies to groups with a large number of employees.

A majority of the groups, however, are not large. The group size is a significant factor in the underwriting process. In smaller plans, more restrictive underwriting practices relating to adverse section are used. These may include less liberal contract provisions, simple health status questions, and in some cases, detailed individual underwriting of group members.

Group Policy: A second characteristic of group insurance is the use of a group policy (contract) held by the owner as group policyholder and booklet-certificates or other summary evidence of insurance held by plan participants. Certificates provide information on the plan provisions and the steps required to file claims. The use of certificates and a master contract constitutes one of the sources of economy under the group approach. The master contract is a detailed document setting forth the contractual relationship between the group contract owner and the insurance company. The insured persons under the contract, usually employees and their beneficiaries, are not actually parties to the contract, although they may enforce their rights as third party beneficiaries. The four party relationship between the employer, insurer, employee, and dependents in a group insurance plan can create a number of interesting and unusual problems that are common only to group insurance.

Lower Cost: A third feature of group insurance is that it is usually lower-cost protection than that which is available in individual insurance. The nature of the group approach permits the use of mass distribution and mass administration methods that afford economies of operation not available in individual insurance. Also, because group insurance is not usually underwritten on an individual basis, the premiums are based upon an actuarial assessment of the group as a whole, so a given healthy individual can perhaps buy insurance at a lower cost. Employer subsidization of the cost is a critical factor in group insurance plan design. Probably the most significant savings in the cost of marketing group insurance lies in the fact that group commissions absorb a much smaller proportion of total premiums than commission for individual contracts.

The marketing system relieves the agent or broker of many duties, responsibilities, and expenses normally associated with selling or servicing of individual insurance. Because of the large premiums involved in many group insurance cases, the commission rates are considerably lower than for individual contracts and are usually graded downward as the premium increases. Some large group insurance buyer's deal directly with insurance companies and commissions are eliminated. In these cases, however, fees frequently are paid to the consultants involved. The nature of the administrative procedures permits simplified accounting techniques. The mechanics of premium collection are less involved, and experience refund procedures much simplified because there id only one party with whom to deal with such as the group policy owner.

Of course, the issuance of a large number of individual contracts is avoided and, because of the nature of group selection, the cost of medical examinations and inspection reports is minimized. Also, regulatory filings and other requirements are minimized. In the early days of group insurance, administration was simple. That is no longer true. Even with group term life insurance, for which there is no cash value, the push for accelerated death benefits, assignment to viatical companies, and estate or business planning record keeping means that the administration of coverage may be as complex as with an individual policy.

Flexibility: in contrast to individual contracts that must be taken as written, the larger employer usually has options in the design and preparation of the group insurance contract. Although the contracts follow a pattern and include certain standard provisions, there is considerably more flexibility here than in the case of individual contracts. The degree of flexibility permitted is, of course, a function of the size of the group involved. The group insurance program usually is an integral part of an employee benefit program and, in most cases, the contract can be molded to meet the objectives of the contract owner, as long as the request do not entail complicated administrative procedures, open the way to possibly serious adverse selection, or violate legal requirements.

Experience Rating: Another special feature of group insurance is that premiums often are subject to experience rating. The experience of the individual group may have an important bearing on dividends or premium-rate adjustments. The larger and, hence, the more reliable the experience of the particular group, the greater is the weight attached to its own experience in any single year. The knowledge that premiums net of dividends or premium rate adjustments will be based on the employers own experience gives the employer a vested interest in maintaining a favorable loss and expense record. For the largest employers, insurers may agree to complicated procedures to satisfy the employer's objectives because most such cases are experience rated and reflect the increased cost.

Some insurers experience rate based on the class or type of industry, or even based on the type of contract. For small groups, most insurance companies' use pooled rates under which a uniform rate is applied to all such groups, although it is becoming more common to apply separate pooled rates for groups with significantly better or worse experience than that of the total class. The point at which a group is large enough to be eligible for experience rating varies from company to company, based on that insurer's book of business and experience. The size and frequency of medical claims vary considerably across countries and among geographic regions within a country and must be considered in determining a group insurance rate. The composition (age, sex, and income level) of a group will also affect the experience of the group and, similarly, will be an important underwriting consideration.

Advantages and Limitations of the Group Mechanism.

Advantages: The group insurance mechanism has proved to be a remarkably effective solution to the need for employee benefits for a number of reasons. The utilization of mass-distribution techniques has extended protection to large numbers of person s with little or no life or health insurance. The increasing complexity of industrial service economies has brought large numbers of persons together, and the group mechanism has enabled insurance companies to reach vast numbers of individuals within a relatively short period and at low cost. Group insurance also has extended protection to a large number of uninsurable persons. Equally important has been the fact that the employer usually pays a large share of the cost. Moreover, in most countries, including the United States, the deductibility of employer contributions and the favorable tax treatment of the benefits to employees make it a tax effective vehicle with which to provide benefits.

Another significant factor, and one of the more cogent motivations for the rapid development of group insurance, has been the continuing governmental role in the security benefits area. Within the United States, Old-Age. Survivors, Disability, and Health Insurance programs has expanded rapidly, but many observers believe that, had not group insurance provided substantial sums of life insurance, health insurance, and retirement protection, social insurance would have developed even more rapidly. As economies worldwide continue to reduce the size and scope of social insurance programs, we can expect the demand for group based security to grow even more.

Disadvantages: From the viewpoint of the employee, group insurance has one great limitation- the temporary nature of the coverage. Unless an employee converts his or her coverage to an individual policy which is usually ore expensive and provides less liberal coverage, the employee loses his or her insurance protection if the group plan is terminated and often also at retirement because employment is terminated. Group life and health protection is continued after retirement in a significant proportion of cases today in the United States, but often at reduced levels. Recently, with the introduction of a new U.S. accounting standard (FAS 106) requiring that the cost of such benefits be accrued and reflected in financial statements, an increasing number of employers have discontinued post retirement life and health benefits entirely. When such continued protection is not available, the temporary nature of the coverage is a serious limitation.

Retiree group health insurance often is provided as a supplement to Medicare. Another problem of potential significance involves individuals who may be lulled into complacency by having large amounts of group insurance during their working years. Many of these persons fail to recognize the need for, or are unwilling to face the cost of, individual insurance. Perhaps of even greater significance is the fact that the flexibility of the group approach is limited to the design of the master policy and does not extend to the individual covered employees. Furthermore, group plans typically fail to provide the mechanism for any analysis of the financial needs of the individual which is a service that is normally furnished by the agent or other advisor. Many agents, however, discuss group insurance coverage with individuals as a foundation for discussing the need for additional amounts of individual life and health insurance.

If you would like some more details, perhaps you are a small business owner and are considering group health insurance for your employees, please feel free to contact me for a one on one no hassle free consultation.

Carlos Diez is a senior benefits consultant for health-insurance-buyer.com, click here for a free no obligation quote we are a referral service that refers consumers to the insurance carriers that can best fit their wants and needs. He holds life, health, and annuity licenses in 48 states and is appointed with over 88 carriers.

Auto Insurance principles should apply to insurance

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Many Americans rely on their automobiles to get to work. No automobile means no job, no rent or mortgage money, no food. A single parent, struggling to make ends meet in the suburbs with 100,000 miles on the odometer, would presumably welcome the guaranteed opportunity for low-priced insurance that would take care of every possible repair on her auto until the day that it reaches 200,000 miles or falls apart, whichever comes first. Especially if the insurance is valid regardless of whether she even changes the oil in the interim.

So why aren't the auto insurance companies writing such coverage, either directly or through used auto dealers? And given the importance of reliable transportation, why isn't the public demanding such coverage? The answer is that both auto insurers and the public know that such insurance can't be written for a premium the insured can afford, while still allowing the insurers to stay solvent and make a profit. As a society, we intuitively understand that the costs associated with taking care of every mechanical need of an old automobile, particularly in the absence of regular maintenance, aren't insurable. Yet we don't seem to have these same intuitions with respect to health insurance.

If we pull the emotions out of health insurance, which is admittedly hard to do even for this author, and look at health insurance from the economic perspective, there are several insights from auto insurance that can illuminate the design, risk selection, and rating of health insurance.

Auto insurance comes in two forms: the traditional insurance you buy from your agent or direct from an insurance company, and warranties that are purchased from auto manufacturers and dealers. Both are risk transfer and sharing devices and I'll generically refer to both as insurance. Because auto third-party liability insurance has no equivalent in health insurance, for traditional auto insurance, I'll examine only collision and comprehensive insurance -- insurance covering the vehicle -- and not third-party liability insurance.

Bumper to Bumper

The following are some commonly accepted principles from auto insurance:

* Bad maintenance voids certain insurance. If an automobile owner never changes the oil, the auto's power train warranty is void. In fact, not only does the oil need to be changed, the change needs to be performed by a certified mechanic and documented. Collision insurance doesn't cover cars purposefully driven over a cliff.

* The best insurance is offered for new models. Bumper-to-bumper warranties are offered only on new cars. As they roll off the assembly line, automobiles have a low and relatively consistent risk profile, satisfying the actuarial test for insurance pricing. Furthermore, auto manufacturers usually wrap at least some coverage into the price of the new auto in order to encourage an ongoing relationship with the owner.

* Limited insurance is offered for old model autos. Increasingly limited insurance is offered for old model autos. The bumper-to-bumper warranty expires, the power train warranty eventually expires, and the amount of collision and comprehensive insurance steadily decreases based on the market value of the auto.

* Certain older autos qualify for additional insurance. Certain older autos can qualify for additional coverage, either in terms of warranties for used autos or increased collision and comprehensive insurance for vintage autos. But such insurance is offered only after a careful inspection of the automobile itself.

* No insurance is offered for normal wear and tear. Wiper blades need replacement, brake pads wear out, and bumpers get dings. These aren't insurable events. To the extent that a new car dealer will sometimes cover some of these costs, we intuitively understand that we're "paying for it" in the cost of the automobile and that it's "not really" insurance.

* Accidents are the only insurable event for the oldest automobiles. Accidents are generally insurable events even for the oldest autos; with few exceptions service work isn't.

* Insurance doesn't restore all vehicles to pre-accident condition. Auto insurance is limited. If the damage to the auto at any age exceeds the value of the auto, the insurer then pays only the value of the auto. With the exception of vintage autos, the value assigned to the auto goes down over time. So whereas accidents are insurable at any vehicle age, the amount of the accident insurance is increasingly limited.

* Insurance is priced to the risk. Insurance is priced based on the risk profile of both the automobile and the driver. The auto insurer carefully examines both when setting rates.

* We pay for our own insurance. And with few exceptions, automobile insurance isn't tax deductible. As a result, the fear of increasing insurance rates due to traffic violations and/or accidents changes our driving behavior and we sometimes select our automobiles based on their insurability.

Each of the above principles is supported by solid actuarial theory. Although most Americans can't describe the underlying actuarial theories, most everyone understands the above principles of auto insurance at the intuitive level. For sure, as indispensable automobiles are to our lifestyles, there is no loud national movement, accompanied by moral outrage, to change these principles.

Unsustainable Market

In contrast, similar principles are routinely violated in health insurance. To demonstrate this, let's return to the same suburban mother from the opening paragraph. She's busy working, driving to and from work, and driving her kids to school and activities. She ends each day exhausted, sitting on the couch with fast food. She's obese, has a sedentary life, a bad diet, and hasn't taken the time to go to the doctor in years. After a simple injury doesn't heal for weeks, she turns up at the emergency room and learns she has type II diabetes. Although type II diabetes is controllable, changing diet and exercise habits and properly tracking her condition takes time and effort and she's never quite successful in implementing the necessary lifestyle changes.

So the initial emergency room visit is only the first of a long list of health care related to non-controlled diabetes and other problems associated with obesity. Whether she has individual or group insurance, her insurance pays for each episode of care, without singling her out for a premium increase, and without charging her any more cost sharing than is charged to the healthiest and most medically diligent insureds. Her coverage continues until she voluntarily changes insurance companies and/or employers or becomes eligible for Medicare. If she's covered under group insurance she may not even pay any premium. Her insurance continues unabated, even though the disease was caused by neglecting her body and she maintains her poor lifestyle even after the disease becomes known.

This just wouldn't happen in auto insurance. This scenario is the auto insurance equivalent of guaranteed access to low-priced auto insurance that takes care of every possible repair, including damage already done, until the day the car falls apart so completely it's unsalvageable (death) or reaches 200,000 miles (Medicare), regardless of whether she even changes the oil (takes care of herself) in the interim.

As a society, we don't expect this in private-market auto insurance, but we expect it in private-market health insurance. Furthermore, there's a chorus of national and state interests, which continuously pushes us further away from the auto insurance principles.

The current private health insurance market isn't sustainable. Prices have been consistently increasing faster than inflation for decades. Each year, insureds use more health care than ever before and more people have no insurance at all. Most actuaries and other people in the private health insurance market don't want national health insurance with its bureaucracy and one-size-fits-all benefits. Yet, we're trying to sustain a private insurance system, which violates the very principles we know are necessary for private insurance markets.

Yes, health insurance involves the sacredness of human life and is therefore different from auto insurance. But if we're to sustain a private-market solution to health insurance, actuaries need to explain to the larger society, in terms that society understands, the rationale for the following principles:

* As sacred as health care is, it's still an economic transaction that has to be balanced by individuals and societies, against other economic choices. It can't be unlimited. Sometimes it will be secondary to other choices. On a given day, for example, the mother in our scenario may value her car more than her health.

* Insurance premiums should be paid by the individual and tied to controllable risk factors. This will provide the best incentive for the control of risk factors.

* Although it's hard to draw the line between abuse, neglect and ignorance, self-abuse shouldn't be insured and we need to draw that line somewhere.

* The private market can't provide unlimited, self-directed health insurance.

* Routine care and ongoing treatments of chronic conditions can be pre-funded, can even be subsidized, but they don't constitute "insurable events."

* Insurance can't be expected to keep every human body in pristine condition. No amount of health care will prevent everyone's ultimate death.

* Comprehensive, unlimited, non-subsidized private-market coverage isn't possible for people with severely impaired health.

* The private health market can provide limited non-subsidized health insurance, such as protection from accidents, to even health-impaired individuals.

* Individuals who can afford to do so and who take good care of themselves should be able to "buy up" to better coverage. People have the option of buying up for everything else in life.

Discussion of these principles is lacking from most of the current health insurance debate. If society can intuitively understand how similar principles apply to health insurance, then they should be able understand the principles in the health insurance context. We need to initiate the debate.

This commentary is solely the opinion of its author. It does not express the official policy of the American Academy of Actuaries; nor does it necessarily reflect the opinions of the Academy's individual officers, members, or staff

Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at http://www.precedent.com. [http://www.precedent.com]

Auto Insurance by the sickness insurance institution of the principles relating to storers ' responsibilities, should the allocation

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Many Americans rely on their automobiles to get to work. No automobile means no job, no rent or mortgage money, no food. A single parent, struggling to make ends meet in the suburbs with 100,000 miles on the odometer, would presumably welcome the guaranteed opportunity for low-priced insurance that would take care of every possible repair on her auto until the day that it reaches 200,000 miles or falls apart, whichever comes first. Especially if the insurance is valid regardless of whether she even changes the oil in the interim.

So why aren't the auto insurance companies writing such coverage, either directly or through used auto dealers? And given the importance of reliable transportation, why isn't the public demanding such coverage? The answer is that both auto insurers and the public know that such insurance can't be written for a premium the insured can afford, while still allowing the insurers to stay solvent and make a profit. As a society, we intuitively understand that the costs associated with taking care of every mechanical need of an old automobile, particularly in the absence of regular maintenance, aren't insurable. Yet we don't seem to have these same intuitions with respect to health insurance.

If we pull the emotions out of health insurance, which is admittedly hard to do even for this author, and look at health insurance from the economic perspective, there are several insights from auto insurance that can illuminate the design, risk selection, and rating of health insurance.

Auto insurance comes in two forms: the traditional insurance you buy from your agent or direct from an insurance company, and warranties that are purchased from auto manufacturers and dealers. Both are risk transfer and sharing devices and I'll generically refer to both as insurance. Because auto third-party liability insurance has no equivalent in health insurance, for traditional auto insurance, I'll examine only collision and comprehensive insurance -- insurance covering the vehicle -- and not third-party liability insurance.

Bumper to Bumper

The following are some commonly accepted principles from auto insurance:

* Bad maintenance voids certain insurance. If an automobile owner never changes the oil, the auto's power train warranty is void. In fact, not only does the oil need to be changed, the change needs to be performed by a certified mechanic and documented. Collision insurance doesn't cover cars purposefully driven over a cliff.

* The best insurance is offered for new models. Bumper-to-bumper warranties are offered only on new cars. As they roll off the assembly line, automobiles have a low and relatively consistent risk profile, satisfying the actuarial test for insurance pricing. Furthermore, auto manufacturers usually wrap at least some coverage into the price of the new auto in order to encourage an ongoing relationship with the owner.

* Limited insurance is offered for old model autos. Increasingly limited insurance is offered for old model autos. The bumper-to-bumper warranty expires, the power train warranty eventually expires, and the amount of collision and comprehensive insurance steadily decreases based on the market value of the auto.

* Certain older autos qualify for additional insurance. Certain older autos can qualify for additional coverage, either in terms of warranties for used autos or increased collision and comprehensive insurance for vintage autos. But such insurance is offered only after a careful inspection of the automobile itself.

* No insurance is offered for normal wear and tear. Wiper blades need replacement, brake pads wear out, and bumpers get dings. These aren't insurable events. To the extent that a new car dealer will sometimes cover some of these costs, we intuitively understand that we're "paying for it" in the cost of the automobile and that it's "not really" insurance.

* Accidents are the only insurable event for the oldest automobiles. Accidents are generally insurable events even for the oldest autos; with few exceptions service work isn't.

* Insurance doesn't restore all vehicles to pre-accident condition. Auto insurance is limited. If the damage to the auto at any age exceeds the value of the auto, the insurer then pays only the value of the auto. With the exception of vintage autos, the value assigned to the auto goes down over time. So whereas accidents are insurable at any vehicle age, the amount of the accident insurance is increasingly limited.

* Insurance is priced to the risk. Insurance is priced based on the risk profile of both the automobile and the driver. The auto insurer carefully examines both when setting rates.

* We pay for our own insurance. And with few exceptions, automobile insurance isn't tax deductible. As a result, the fear of increasing insurance rates due to traffic violations and/or accidents changes our driving behavior and we sometimes select our automobiles based on their insurability.

Each of the above principles is supported by solid actuarial theory. Although most Americans can't describe the underlying actuarial theories, most everyone understands the above principles of auto insurance at the intuitive level. For sure, as indispensable automobiles are to our lifestyles, there is no loud national movement, accompanied by moral outrage, to change these principles.

Unsustainable Market

In contrast, similar principles are routinely violated in health insurance. To demonstrate this, let's return to the same suburban mother from the opening paragraph. She's busy working, driving to and from work, and driving her kids to school and activities. She ends each day exhausted, sitting on the couch with fast food. She's obese, has a sedentary life, a bad diet, and hasn't taken the time to go to the doctor in years. After a simple injury doesn't heal for weeks, she turns up at the emergency room and learns she has type II diabetes. Although type II diabetes is controllable, changing diet and exercise habits and properly tracking her condition takes time and effort and she's never quite successful in implementing the necessary lifestyle changes.

So the initial emergency room visit is only the first of a long list of health care related to non-controlled diabetes and other problems associated with obesity. Whether she has individual or group insurance, her insurance pays for each episode of care, without singling her out for a premium increase, and without charging her any more cost sharing than is charged to the healthiest and most medically diligent insureds. Her coverage continues until she voluntarily changes insurance companies and/or employers or becomes eligible for Medicare. If she's covered under group insurance she may not even pay any premium. Her insurance continues unabated, even though the disease was caused by neglecting her body and she maintains her poor lifestyle even after the disease becomes known.

This just wouldn't happen in auto insurance. This scenario is the auto insurance equivalent of guaranteed access to low-priced auto insurance that takes care of every possible repair, including damage already done, until the day the car falls apart so completely it's unsalvageable (death) or reaches 200,000 miles (Medicare), regardless of whether she even changes the oil (takes care of herself) in the interim.

As a society, we don't expect this in private-market auto insurance, but we expect it in private-market health insurance. Furthermore, there's a chorus of national and state interests, which continuously pushes us further away from the auto insurance principles.

The current private health insurance market isn't sustainable. Prices have been consistently increasing faster than inflation for decades. Each year, insureds use more health care than ever before and more people have no insurance at all. Most actuaries and other people in the private health insurance market don't want national health insurance with its bureaucracy and one-size-fits-all benefits. Yet, we're trying to sustain a private insurance system, which violates the very principles we know are necessary for private insurance markets.

Yes, health insurance involves the sacredness of human life and is therefore different from auto insurance. But if we're to sustain a private-market solution to health insurance, actuaries need to explain to the larger society, in terms that society understands, the rationale for the following principles:

* As sacred as health care is, it's still an economic transaction that has to be balanced by individuals and societies, against other economic choices. It can't be unlimited. Sometimes it will be secondary to other choices. On a given day, for example, the mother in our scenario may value her car more than her health.

* Insurance premiums should be paid by the individual and tied to controllable risk factors. This will provide the best incentive for the control of risk factors.

* Although it's hard to draw the line between abuse, neglect and ignorance, self-abuse shouldn't be insured and we need to draw that line somewhere.

* The private market can't provide unlimited, self-directed health insurance.

* Routine care and ongoing treatments of chronic conditions can be pre-funded, can even be subsidized, but they don't constitute "insurable events."

* Insurance can't be expected to keep every human body in pristine condition. No amount of health care will prevent everyone's ultimate death.

* Comprehensive, unlimited, non-subsidized private-market coverage isn't possible for people with severely impaired health.

* The private health market can provide limited non-subsidized health insurance, such as protection from accidents, to even health-impaired individuals.

* Individuals who can afford to do so and who take good care of themselves should be able to "buy up" to better coverage. People have the option of buying up for everything else in life.

Discussion of these principles is lacking from most of the current health insurance debate. If society can intuitively understand how similar principles apply to health insurance, then they should be able understand the principles in the health insurance context. We need to initiate the debate.

This commentary is solely the opinion of its author. It does not express the official policy of the American Academy of Actuaries; nor does it necessarily reflect the opinions of the Academy's individual officers, members, or staff

Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at http://www.precedent.com. [http://www.precedent.com]

Small Business Health Insurance-Best Policy is a major Agent

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I have been a health insurance broker for over a decade and every day I read more and more "horror" stories that are posted on the Internet regarding health insurance companies not paying claims, refusing to cover specific illnesses and physicians not getting reimbursed for medical services. Unfortunately, insurance companies are driven by profits, not people (albeit they need people to make profits). If the insurance company can find a legal reason not to pay a claim, chances are they will find it, and you the consumer will suffer. However, what most people fail to realize is that there are very few "loopholes" in an insurance policy that give the insurance company an unfair advantage over the consumer. In fact, insurance companies go to great lengths to detail the limitations of their coverage by giving the policy holders 10-days (a 10-day free look period) to review their policy. Unfortunately, most people put their insurance cards in their wallet and place their policy in a drawer or filing cabinet during their 10-day free look and it usually isn't until they receive a "denial" letter from the insurance company that they take their policy out to really read through it.

The majority of people, who buy their own health insurance, rely heavily on the insurance agent selling the policy to explain the plan's coverage and benefits. This being the case, many individuals who purchase their own health insurance plan can tell you very little about their plan, other than, what they pay in premiums and how much they have to pay to satisfy their deductible.

For many consumers, purchasing a health insurance policy on their own can be an enormous undertaking. Purchasing a health insurance policy is not like buying a car, in that, the buyer knows that the engine and transmission are standard, and that power windows are optional. A health insurance plan is much more ambiguous, and it is often very difficult for the consumer to determine what type of coverage is standard and what other benefits are optional. In my opinion, this is the primary reason that most policy holders don't realize that they do not have coverage for a specific medical treatment until they receive a large bill from the hospital stating that "benefits were denied."

Sure, we all complain about insurance companies, but we do know that they serve a "necessary evil." And, even though purchasing health insurance may be a frustrating, daunting and time consuming task, there are certain things that you can do as a consumer to ensure that you are purchasing the type of health insurance coverage you really need at a fair price.

Dealing with small business owners and the self-employed market, I have come to the realization that it is extremely difficult for people to distinguish between the type of health insurance coverage that they "want" and the benefits they really "need." Recently, I have read various comments on different Blogs advocating health plans that offer 100% coverage (no deductible and no-coinsurance) and, although I agree that those types of plans have a great "curb appeal," I can tell you from personal experience that these plans are not for everyone. Do 100% health plans offer the policy holder greater peace of mind? Probably. But is a 100% health insurance plan something that most consumers really need? Probably not! In my professional opinion, when you purchase a health insurance plan, you must achieve a balance between four important variables; wants, needs, risk and price. Just like you would do if you were purchasing options for a new car, you have to weigh all these variables before you spend your money. If you are healthy, take no medications and rarely go to the doctor, do you really need a 100% plan with a $5 co-payment for prescription drugs if it costs you $300 dollars more a month?

Is it worth $200 more a month to have a $250 deductible and a $20 brand name/$10 generic Rx co-pay versus an 80/20 plan with a $2,500 deductible that also offers a $20 brand name/$10generic co-pay after you pay a once a year $100 Rx deductible? Wouldn't the 80/20 plan still offer you adequate coverage? Don't you think it would be better to put that extra $200 ($2,400 per year) in your bank account, just in case you may have to pay your $2,500 deductible or buy a $12 Amoxicillin prescription? Isn't it wiser to keep your hard-earned money rather than pay higher premiums to an insurance company?

Yes, there are many ways you can keep more of the money that you would normally give to an insurance company in the form of higher monthly premiums. For example, the federal government encourages consumers to purchase H.S.A. (Health Savings Account) qualified H.D.H.P.'s (High Deductible Health Plans) so they have more control over how their health care dollars are spent. Consumers who purchase an HSA Qualified H.D.H.P. can put extra money aside each year in an interest bearing account so they can use that money to pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses. Even procedures that are not normally covered by insurance companies, like Lasik eye surgery, orthodontics, and alternative medicines become 100% tax deductible. If there are no claims that year the money that was deposited into the tax deferred H.S.A can be rolled over to the next year earning an even higher rate of interest. If there are no significant claims for several years (as is often the case) the insured ends up building a sizeable account that enjoys similar tax benefits as a traditional I.R.A. Most H.S.A. administrators now offer thousands of no load mutual funds to transfer your H.S.A. funds into so you can potentially earn an even higher rate of interest.

In my experience, I believe that individuals who purchase their health plan based on wants rather than needs feel the most defrauded or "ripped-off" by their insurance company and/or insurance agent. In fact, I hear almost identical comments from almost every business owner that I speak to. Comments, such as, "I have to run my business, I don't have time to be sick! "I think I have gone to the doctor 2 times in the last 5 years" and "My insurance company keeps raising my rates and I don't even use my insurance!" As a business owner myself, I can understand their frustration. So, is there a simple formula that everyone can follow to make health insurance buying easier? Yes! Become an INFORMED consumer.

Every time I contact a prospective client or call one of my client referrals, I ask a handful of specific questions that directly relate to the policy that particular individual currently has in their filing cabinet or dresser drawer. You know the policy that they bought to protect them from having to file bankruptcy due to medical debt. That policy they purchased to cover that $500,000 life-saving organ transplant or those 40 chemotherapy treatments that they may have to undergo if they are diagnosed with cancer.

So what do you think happens almost 100% of the time when I ask these individuals "BASIC" questions about their health insurance policy? They do not know the answers! The following is a list of 10 questions that I frequently ask a prospective health insurance client. Let's see how many YOU can answer without looking at your policy.

1. What Insurance Company are you insured with and what is the name of your health insurance plan? (e.g. Blue Cross Blue Shield-"Basic Blue")

2. What is your calendar year deductible and would you have to pay a separate deductible for each family member if everyone in your family became ill at the same time? (e.g. The majority of health plans have a per person yearly deductible, for example, $250, $500, $1,000, or $2,500. However, some plans will only require you to pay a 2 person maximum deductible each year, even if everyone in your family needed extensive medical care.)

3. What is your coinsurance percentage and what dollar amount (stop loss) it is based on? (e.g. A good plan with 80/20 coverage means you pay 20% of some dollar amount. This dollar amount is also known as a stop loss and can vary based on the type of policy you purchase. Stop losses can be as little as $5,000 or $10,000 or as much as $20,000 or there are some policies on the market that have NO stop loss dollar amount.)

4. What is your maximum out of pocket expense per year? (e.g. All deductibles plus all coinsurance percentages plus all applicable access fees or other fees)

5. What is the Lifetime maximum benefit the insurance company will pay if you become seriously ill and does your plan have any "per illness" maximums or caps? (e.g. Some plans may have a $5 million lifetime maximum, but may have a maximum benefit cap of $100,000 per illness. This means that you would have to develop many separate and unrelated life-threatening illnesses costing $100,000 or less to qualify for $5 million of lifetime coverage.)

6. Is your plan a schedule plan, in that it only pays a certain amount for a specific list of procedures? (e.g., Mega Life & Health & Midwest National Life, endorsed by the National Association of the Self-Employed, N.A.S.E. is known for endorsing schedule plans) 7. Does your plan have doctor co-pays and are you limited to a certain number of doctor co-pay visits per year? (e.g. Many plans have a limit of how many times you go to the doctor per year for a co-pay and, quite often the limit is 2-4 visits.)

8. Does your plan offer prescription drug coverage and if it does, do you pay a co-pay for your prescriptions or do you have to meet a separate drug deductible before you receive any benefits and/or do you just have a discount prescription card only? (e.g. Some plans offer you prescription benefits right away, other plans require that you pay a separate drug deductible before you can receive prescription medication for a co-pay. Today, many plans offer no co-pay options and only provide you with a discount prescription card that gives you a 10-20% discount on all prescription medications).

9. Does your plan have any reduction in benefits for organ transplants and if so, what is the maximum your plan will pay if you need an organ transplant? (e.g. Some plans only pay a $100,000 maximum benefit for organ transplants for a procedure that actually costs $350-$500K and this $100,000 maximum may also include reimbursement for expensive anti-rejection medications that must be taken after a transplant. If this is the case, you will often have to pay for all anti-rejection medications out of pocket).

10. Do you have to pay a separate deductible or "access fee" for each hospital admission or for each emergency room visit? (e.g. Some plans, like the Assurant Health's "CoreMed" plan have a separate $750 hospital admission fee that you pay for the first 3 days you are in the hospital. This fee is in addition to your plan deductible. Also, many plans have benefit "caps" or "access fees" for out-patient services, such as, physical therapy, speech therapy, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, etc. Benefit "caps" could be as little as $500 for each out-patient treatment, leaving you a bill for the remaining balance. Access fees are additional fees that you pay per treatment. For example, for each outpatient chemotherapy treatment, you may be required to pay a $250 "access fee" per treatment. So for 40 chemotherapy treatments, you would have to pay 40 x $250 = $10,000. Again, these fees would be charged in addition to your plan deductible).

Now that you've read through the list of questions that I ask a prospective health insurance client, ask yourself how many questions you were able to answer. If you couldn't answer all ten questions don't be discouraged. That doesn't mean that you are not a smart consumer. It may just mean that you dealt with a "bad" insurance agent. So how could you tell if you dealt with a "bad" insurance agent? Because a "great" insurance agent would have taken the time to help you really understand your insurance benefits. A "great" agent spends time asking YOU questions so s/he can understand your insurance needs. A "great" agent recommends health plans based on all four variables; wants, needs, risk and price. A "great" agent gives you enough information to weigh all of your options so you can make an informed purchasing decision. And lastly, a "great" agent looks out for YOUR best interest and NOT the best interest of the insurance company.

So how do you know if you have a "great" agent? Easy, if you were able to answer all 10 questions without looking at your health insurance policy, you have a "great" agent. If you were able to answer the majority of questions, you may have a "good" agent. However, if you were only able to answer a few questions, chances are you have a "bad" agent. Insurance agents are no different than any other professional. There are some insurance agents that really care about the clients they work with, and there are other agents that avoid answering questions and duck client phone calls when a message is left about unpaid claims or skyrocketing health insurance rates.

Remember, your health insurance purchase is just as important as purchasing a house or a car, if not more important. So don't be afraid to ask your insurance agent a lot of questions to make sure that you understand what your health plan does and does not cover. If you don't feel comfortable with the type of coverage that your agent suggests or if you think the price is too high, ask your agent if s/he can select a comparable plan so you can make a side by side comparison before you purchase. And, most importantly, read all of the "fine print" in your health plan brochure and when you receive your policy, take the time to read through your policy during your 10-day free look period.

If you can't understand something, or aren't quite sure what the asterisk (*) next to the benefit description really means in terms of your coverage, call your agent or contact the insurance company to ask for further clarification.

Furthermore, take the time to perform your own due diligence. For example, if you research MEGA Life and Health or the Midwest National Life insurance company, endorsed by the National Association for the Self Employed (NASE), you will find that there have been 14 class action lawsuits brought against these companies since 1995. So ask yourself, "Is this a company that I would trust to pay my health insurance claims?

Additionally, find out if your agent is a "captive" agent or an insurance "broker." "Captive" agents can only offer ONE insurance company's products." Independent" agents or insurance "brokers" can offer you a variety of different insurance plans from many different insurance companies. A "captive" agent may recommend a health plan that doesn't exactly meet your needs because that is the only plan s/he can sell. An "independent" agent or insurance "broker" can usually offer you a variety of different insurance products from many quality carriers and can often customize a plan to meet your specific insurance needs and budget.

Over the years, I have developed strong, trusting relationships with my clients because of my insurance expertise and the level of personal service that I provide. This is one of the primary reasons that I do not recommend buying health insurance on the Internet. In my opinion, there are too many variables that Internet insurance buyers do not often take into consideration. I am a firm believer that a health insurance purchase requires the level of expertise and personal attention that only an insurance professional can provide. And, since it does not cost a penny more to purchase your health insurance through an agent or broker, my advice would be to use Ebay and Amazon for your less important purchases and to use a knowledgeable, ethical and reputable independent agent or broker for one of the most important purchases you will ever make....your health insurance policy.

Lastly, if you have any concerns about an insurance company, contact your state's Department of Insurance BEFORE you buy your policy. Your state's Department of Insurance can tell you if the insurance company is registered in your state and can also tell you if there have been any complaints against that company that have been filed by policy holders. If you suspect that your agent is trying to sell you a fraudulent insurance policy, (e.g. you have to become a member of a union to qualify for coverage) or isn't being honest with you, your state's Department of Insurance can also check to see if your agent is licensed and whether or not there has ever been any disciplinary action previously taken against that agent.

In closing, I hope I have given you enough information so you can become an INFORMED insurance consumer. However, I remain convinced that the following words of wisdom still go along way: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!" and "If you only buy on price, you get what you pay for!"

©2007 Small Business Insurance Services, Inc. http://www.smallbusinessinsuranceservices.com

C. Steven Tucker, is the President of Small Business Insurance Services, Inc. and has been a Licensed Mult-State Insurance Broker serving the small business and self-employed market for over a decade. Mr. Tucker believes an informed insurance consumer makes the best health insurance purchasing decisions. Mr. Tucker has written several articles that focus on small business health insurance, which can be read on a number of web sites.

Mr. Tucker's blog can be read at http://www.smallbusinessinsuranceservices.vox.com

If you have general questions regarding health insurance, or you are in the market to purchase a health insurance plan, you can contact Mr. Tucker through his web site at http://www.smallbusinessinsuranceservices.com,

via Email at smallbusinssvcs@aol.com or by plone, toll-free at 1-866-SBIS123 (724-7123)