Larger deductible healthcare insurance contracts are often better values when judged next to to no or smaller deductible healthcare insurance policies. This is not because lower deductible contracts have lower coverage, but because you will be overcharged.
Very often when evaluating a healthcare insurance policy with a lower deductible with a contract that has a moderate or big deductible, you will find that there is no scenario where the lesser deductible is a better value. If you have no expenses the contract with the lower price is going to be a better value for you. If you have medium or large expenses, the plan with the lower monthly cost can still be better if the premium is low enough. In many situations, the plan with lower monthly cost will offer the best value even in a situation with catastrophic expenses.
In a world where it is more affordable to purchase a large box rather than 2 separate boxes that are half the size, it may be hard to accept that the cheap insurance contract is the better contract. This causes a lot of us to spend too much for healthcare insurance.
Finding the right healthcare insurance plan requires that you do a little research. Picking the policy that looks good instead of using a calculator, will result in your selecting the wrong policy more often than not.
To see whether the larger deductible version of a policy is better for you than the smaller deductible version you should compare the plans in three different scenarios. The first situation should be one where your family only needs only preventative care for a year. The second scenario should involve intermediate expenses. The third scenario should involve very large expenses.
Once you have devised the scenarios, you should do the math to see what your total costs would be with each plan. Include the expenses of the monthly premiums and the costs of the copays, coinsurance and deductibles you would have to pay. When you add it all up, you may be surprised at how well the higher deductible contract performs.
If you can take the money that you save when you purchase a higher deductible plan and put it in the bank, you will probably have the cash to pay your deductible if you ever do have a year with major expenses.
If you buy a plan that is health savings account compatible, you can put the cash away on a tax-deferred basis. HSAs are the best type of contract for most consumers.
Policies with lesser deductibles are attractive to a lot of us because they have never done the math to show which type of plan is better. Now that you have a method for evaluating medical insurance contracts, you have a tool that will help keep you from spending too much on medical care.
Policies with medium and high deductibles tend to have lower prices. Often the premiums are low enough to more than make up for the fact that they cover less of the small stuff. When you are evaluating plans, do the math so that you will know if a higher deductible medical insurance plan is best for you.
The author has put together several video tips including What is a deductible for health insurance?. You can also find health insurance quotes for all US states including Colorado medical insurance on Alston Balkcom's site.
Read More From Alston Balkcom
|
