Tipsheets
Reducing Health Insurance
Policy Premiums
If you're self-employed and concerned about high
health insurance bills, there are several things
you can do to lower your insurance premiums once you settle on a
health insurance plan. You may opt out of
certain coverage, or you may increase your out-of-pocket expenses.
Consider eliminating coverage for routine
office visits. If you're healthy and have few prescriptions and no
children, a catastrophic health insurance policy
might be all the coverage you need. The premiums to cover you just in the event
of an accident or unexpected illness are lower in costs than more comprehensive
coverage.
Increase your deductible. A
deductible is the amount of money you'll pay
out-of-pocket before your insurance company takes over payments on your bill.
In general, the higher the deductible, the lower the monthly premium. In this
case, you could see significant savings each month. The downside is that, if
something does happen, you'll pay more out-of-pocket before the insurer picks
up the costs.
Pay your premium annually for big
discounts. Most health insurance
companies will give you a sizeable discount on your health insurance premium if you pay it all at once. If
overall savings is your goal, you could get the cheapest rate on your
health insurance by paying for the full year at
one time.
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