Health insurance can be confusing. As a service to our customers we put together this brief guide to help them decide what their needs really are. These are the types of questions that everyone should ask themselves when considering the purchase of a health insurance plan. By taking a moment to seriously evaluate your needs, you may be surprised at how much money you can save when shopping for a health plan. There is no point in paying for coverage you will never use!



The following is a brief list of some guidelines and recommendations for choosing a health care plan. Please browse through this article as it offers some important things to consider when choosing the right health care plan for you, your family, or your business.

1. What is your budget for a health care plan? How much do you think you can afford to spend each month to maintain your health care plan?

2. Type of plan you need: Ask yourself some hard questions: Do you need a major medical plan, a high deductible plan, a health discount plan, prescriptions, maternity coverage, routine care, vision, or dental?

3. How often do you go to the doctor? Various medical plans will cover routine doctors office visits with unlimited use but they are much more expensive than those that have some limits to doctor's office visits. If you never go to the doctor, a plan that includes this type of unlimited benefit would be a waste of your money. Some health insurance policies will cover routine "Wellness Visits" at little or no cost to the policyholder.

4. Do you take any medications? Many health insurance plans include prescription drug coverage. But, if you don't take any medications, having a health insurance policy that covers prescriptions may be a waste of your money. If you do take medications, make sure that the plan you purchase has enough benefits to it to make it worth the added cost to have prescriptions included in the plan.

5. Do you travel much? If you travel a lot you may want to look for a plan that doesn't require you to stay within a network. The insurance benefit that a company pays out is always better if you can stay within that company's network. Some companies use nationwide networks while others may use more localized networks. Temporary health insurance for travel is something you can purchase when you need it.

6. Are you self-employed? Self-employed people will likely have different needs than people who work for a large company. It is important to make sure your insurance policy will cover you while you are working. Not all of them will!

7. Do you plan on having children? Maternity coverage is very expensive to add to a policy. Nearly all health insurance companies require you to have a policy in force with them for at least nine months prior to becoming pregnant. If you become pregnant before the end of the waiting period, the insurance company will not cover the pregnancy or the delivery.

8. Are there any medical conditions that are considered "pre-existing"? Most health insurance will have some very strict guidelines for covering pre-existing medical conditions. However, many of the discount programs and the guaranteed acceptance discount programs have no waiting periods or pre-existing condition exclusions. These may be a good option for you. This depends largely on what the condition is and how urgent the need for care is.

9. Do you need dental and vision coverage? A dental or vision insurance plan can sometimes be like throwing your money away. Several of the discount plans offer exceptional savings at rates that are much lower than the traditional insurance plans. If you need major dental work right away, the dental insurance policies may not be your best choice, as they will have waiting periods for up to 1 year before major dental work will be covered. If this is the case for you, the dental discount plans are your best choice, as they have no waiting periods or limits. Your yearly dental benefit may also be capped at a certain amount. This means that if you need more dental work than is covered, you will be paying the amount that exceeds this ?cap? directly out of your pocket, at 100%.

10. Who will the benefits cover? Adding people to an insurance policy can cause the rates to go up. The more people on the insurance plan, the higher the risk of financial loss to the insurance company, therefore the rate must be higher.

Keeping money in your pocket is much easier than making it if you are armed with the proper knowledge about what you are shopping for.