A recent Empowher news item noted that as many as 14,000 Americans a day lose their health insurance and two million have become uninsured since jobs began disappearing in the recession, adding to the 46 million who were already without insurance. Those are
huge, discouraging numbers.
We all expect changes of some kind in the health care system over the next few years. There are too many people who are uninsured, too many falling through the cracks. They miss out on preventative care and wellness visits, and must use the emergency room when they are in dire need. The current administration and Congress have all vowed to do something about the system as it exists now.
But if you are not covered now, and you need to shop for health insurance, how do you go about it? And how do you know that the policy you buy will actually support you should you become ill?
CNN has a detailed article that discusses shopping for individual health care policies. An excerpt:
"So when you're out there shopping for insurance, how do you discern a good policy from a bad one? It can be very difficult, experts say. "I'm a 35-year veteran in insurance, and I still don't understand it," says Rex Bowden Sr., of Global Insurance Consultants. "It's fluid. Sometimes what you think it means, it may not mean." "
Don't let that make you throw in the towel. The article offers quite a few tips and resources, such as looking at ratings of health care plans (the National Committee for Quality Assurance, and U.S. News & World Report), using an online glossary of insurance terms, and shopping on comparison sites like www.einsurance.com.
They also give you five main questions you must ask:
1. How much are my premiums and will they change?
2. What are my deductibles and co-pays?
3. Is the insurance company licensed in my state?
4. Am I buying a short-term or a long-term plan?
5. Should I consider going with COBRA?
Here's the complete article:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/12/choosing.private.insurance/index.html