How to Save on Your Health Insurance Premium


   Health insurance is a safeguard from unplanned catastrophic expenses for medical purposes. Though it is an essential part of our regular expenses, rising cost is pressing hard on us. As cost is on higher side, most of us are struggling hard to manage with our income making an upward move only after a long hiatus. A way to lessen the burden of insurance expenses is to lower the premium amount on health care policy.

Raise your deductible
A deductible refers to the amount the insured is obliged to pay before the insurer’s plan kicks in. By increasing amount of deductibles, you can lower the premium on your premium figure by a good margin, say up to 10-40%.

Increase co-pay amount
Raise your co-pay to reduce your premium by as high as 25%. Co-pay increase is a sound decision if

you visit your physician at least twice a year.
However, before taking an action, know what is covered under co-pay feature. Does it include diagnostic tests like X-ray, USG and other medical examinations or does it only pay for doctor’s visit?

Raise the bar of out-of-pocket expenses
Out-of-pocket expense is what you pay for your medical bills after the insurance company makes a full payment of your claims. If you decide to pay more for out-of-pocket expenses through coinsurance payment, deductibles etc, the result will show in low insurance premium.

Think about a major medical health plan
In insurance jargon, it is called catastrophic health insurance. This type has limited coverage for routine check up and usually requires higher deductibles which need to be paid before starting of insurance plan.

Change coinsurance amount
You and your insurance company share a percentage amount in terms of medical expenses coverage. This amount is known as coinsurance. It can be of different amounts though 80/20 is the most popular for insurance plan. This ratio implies that you will bear only 20% of medical expense whereas the rest 80% will be borne by your insurance carrier. If you chance this coinsurance amount, it will save expenses on your premium by 10-20%.

Know about the in-network and out-network of doctors as supported by your insurance coverage
Most of the insurers, especially the reputed ones inform their customers regarding full list of the doctors available for medical attention and service. If you choose in-network service, it will be good for making substantial saving on your premium. This is because; the in-network medical professionals are contracted by the insurance companies for their service at a discounted amount. This reflects through low-cost premium of your insurance. If you choose to go with out-network service provider, then you have to share the non-contracted amount borne by your insurance company. In such cases, most of the companies share a little amount and actual burden is transferred to their customers.

Pay for what you actually need
Buy a policy that is appropriate for you. Just because your friend is paying for more coverage never makes it important for you to follow his footprint. Pay for what makes sense and are essential for you, otherwise you will end up paying more premium unnecessarily.

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