In recent years it has become increasingly difficult to pair the words ?cheap? and ?health insurance.? The cost of health insurance has skyrocketed, rising far faster than the overall rate of inflation. In fact, the cost of health insurance is now so high that fully 15% of all Missouri residents can't afford health insurance, and as companies continue phasing out their group health insurance coverage, that percentage will undoubtedly rise.

So how do you get cheap health insurance in Missouri? Is it even possible? The answer, fortunately, is ?yes.? It is possible to get cheap health insurance ? but it may be necessary for you to make a few compromises in order to do so.

First, sit down with a pencil and paper and write down what aspects of health insurance are most important to you and your family, because once you get on one of the comparison websites you're going to have to make decisions ? it's better to make them now, while you have time to think about them.

For example, how much of a co-payment can you afford each time you visit the doctor? How often do you use the emergency room? Do you foresee any hospital stays for the coming year? How many prescription medications do you regularly use? How important is it that you be allowed to see a certain doctor ? and is that doctor covered by the plan?

The answers to these (and other) questions will help you build a health care package that's right for you.

One of the biggest things you can do to lower the cost of your health care is to adjust your deductible. The larger your deductible ? in other words, the more you're willing to pay for your own health care ? the lower your monthly health care premium will be.

For those people who really can't afford health insurance but don't want to risk a catastrophic accident or illness wiping out everything they've worked and saved a lifetime for, there is another solution: buy health insurance with an extremely high deductible.

For example, a health insurance policy with a $2,000 deductible might be affordable for someone even on a limited budget. What such insurance would effectively mean is that the insured would pay for all of their normal medical expenses. They would pay 100% for doctor's visits and routine medical exams and even minor surgeries.

Not until after they spent $2,000 of their own money on health care in a year would the insurance begin paying for anything. What good is a policy like that, you might ask?

Such a policy protects your life savings and your home in the event that you have a major illness or you have a major accident ? or you simply have to spend more than a night or two in a hospital during the year. Such a policy is a safety net.

But whatever you decide on, your next step is to get online and fill out the form on at least 3 of the many sites that offer comparisons on policies and their prices among various insurance companies offering health care insurance in Missouri.

Remember, none of the comparison sites compares all of the insurance companies in Missouri, so you should get comparisons from at least 3 different sites ? in that way you will end up with more overall comparisons and you really will be able to get cheap health care insurance online in Missouri ? and be able to design a health care plan that's right for you and your family.