Health insurance quotes can range from affordable to outrageous, and it might seem that you have to pay top-dollar to get the care you need. However, by learning more about quotes, you can find an affordable health insurance plan that meets your needs without breaking the bank.

Quotes differ among states

Because each state has its own Department of Insurance, the regulations that determine prices vary by state. Each state has its own laws on rates for individual health insurance plans. Quotes also vary by state in proportion to the general cost of living and demographic differences. When health care reform is enacted in 2014, states will oversee their own Exchanges, and can opt to partner with other states to create multi-state Exchanges that serve a larger population. This would amp up competition among insurance companies—which offers you, the consumer, more options.

Focus on staying healthy and pay less!

The more you try to live a healthier lifestyle, the less you end up paying for health insurance costs. Due to the increased risk of illness among heavier people, carriers charge this group a higher premium. But take heart, if you’re overweight and dealing with expensive health insurance costs, consider delving into your plan’s wellness options. Insurance companies often offer incentives to those who try to live a healthier lifestyle by joining wait loss programs or quitting smoking, among other things. This is a real win-win—shed excess pounds and get healthier while saving money!

Quotes for similar plans can vary greatly among different insurance carriers

This can happen if a health insurance pool becomes really sick and enters into a negative spiral. This situation may seem confusing, in which case you shouldn’t hesitate to ask a licensed insurance agent to explain it to you in greater details.

Smokers pay more for health insurance

The knowledge of smoking’s detrimental health effects is widely known, but the same doesn’t go for its effects on health insurance costs. Because it deteriorates both your health and that of your dependents (second-hand smoke), smokers pay higher premiums than do non-smokers. However, some carriers offer incentives to smokers who have quit and maintained that status for a period of time.

The amount you are quoted isn’t final

Online health insurance quotes are good estimates of options available to you, assuming you enter your information correctly. However, these are not final or exact because the carrier might adjust the price slightly lower or higher upon actual purchase of the plan.

The older you are, the more you pay

Health insurance carriers charge older individuals more due to their greater use of medical services, relative to younger people

Higher deductible generally means lower premium

Because a higher deductible means you assume greater risk in the event that you need medical attentive, the insurance company has less on the line and your premiums are lower. If you research free health insurance quotes online, you’ll see that high deductible health plans often have lower monthly premiums, relative to other plans.

Doing a Florida health insurance comparison is easy with our free FL health insurance quote finder. All you have to do to compare instant quotes online from top Florida medical insurance carriers like United Healthcare, Aetna, Humana, Assurant, and more is to just enter your basic health information in.

Just like it is important to do a car insurance comparison when shopping for car insurance it is just as important to do an adequate FL health insurance comparison when searching for the best FL health insurance coverage.

Enter your zip above to get started now!

Have questions about the health care reform bill? Check out this graphic below that shows a time line for all of the health insurance changes brought about by the healthcare reform bill and then be sure to enter your zip code in above to compare Florida health insurance quotes and speak with one of our friendly and knowledgeable agents!

Infographic by HealthInsuranceProviders.com: Compare health insurance options from many different providers!

A growing body of scientific evidence is demonstrating the effectiveness of many alternative medicine practices and supplements. If you are interested in exploring complementary or alternative medicine it is imperative that you contact your health insurance provider to see if it is covered by your policy. Nutritional approaches to health, such as resveratrol supplements, are being embraced by more and more insurance companies, but you have to check first.

A 2006 survey of major insurers and HMO’s found that 14 of them covered at least 11 of 34 alternative treatments. The most commonly covered therapies are chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, and naturopathic medicine. Meditation, stress-management, herbal remedies, including resveratrol capsules, and homeopathy are increasingly being covered by insurers as well.

Even though your insurance company may cover some forms of alternative medicine, it doesn’t mean you will not have to pay anything. In fact, for most of the cases where supplements and other alternative therapies are covered, you will still pay on a discounted fee-for-service basis, or will only be covered for a small number of sessions. Because of these limitations, many individuals opt to pay for alternative therapies themselves.

One way to find out if a specific practice is covered by your health insurance is to contact the national professional association for that type of therapy. For example, the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine maintains a list of insurers that provide coverage and what the reimbursement may be.

Before seeking alternative treatments it is always a good idea to check with your insurance company to see what is covered. Does the treatment need to be pre-authorized or pre-approved? Do you need a referral from your physician? Is there a co-payment? These are just some of the questions you will want to ask when talking to your carrier.

If you do decide to pay out of pocket from the procedure or health supplement, make sure you fully understand the costs involved. What is the recommended course of treatment? If the procedure will take dozens of sessions to complete, the costs can mount quickly. Ask if there is a trail period available to see if the therapy works for you before committing to a full course.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, maintained by the National Institutes of Health, is an excellent resource for getting more information about an alternative therapy. They even have scientific and medical literature on a range of alternative medicines, in case your health insurer asks for evidence about the efficacy of your treatment.

If your health insurance company declines your claim for coverage of an alternative medicine, you always have the ability to appeal that decision. Follow your insurer’s appeal procedure and talk to your primary health care provider to see if there is anything they can do to help your case.

If you have ever sought a professional liability quote for your business you understand that professional liability insurance aka E&O insurance is a very specialized coverage. Although all it takes is a commercial insurance license to broker any line of commercial insurance that does not mean that all brokers understand what they are selling when it come to professional liability coverage. First, I would like to explore the definition of professional services, and then we can explore the risks involved and why these fields need coverage.

Professional services are delivered by more than just doctors and attorneys, the basic definition of professional services defines a “professional” as anyone who is required to obtain certification or specialized education to perform his or her job. The broad definition of professional liability leaves may individuals and companies that are in business exposed to claims.

Remember, professional liability insurance should be thought of as a way to manage risk against possible claims and if you are in a field deemed to be a professional field then this coverage it is a cost of doing business. This is a difficult concept for those that have been in business for years but the down side of not having coverage in place is far outweighed by premium of an E&O policy. And the alternative is that one claim that can hurt a business for years or even force someone out of business.

Professional liability insurance is obtained by many organizations and with technology, insurance is getting easier to obtain since a broker can check with numerous carriers very quickly. You can now submit your inquiry for professional liability quote online which will speed up your process and get you well on the way to obtaining coverage.

Obtaining E&O quotes is just as important as comparing Florida health insurance quotes. Get started today!

For all the negative feelings about government-run health insurance, there’s one program that’s been quite a success (albeit certain budget shortcomings). Today, Medicare is perhaps the most successful health care program in our nation’s history — and it’s also one of the largest. Even though Medicare provides much of the needed health insurance coverage for Americans over 65 years old, it still has some gaps in coverage.

To supplement the coverage offered by traditional Medicare, seniors can also purchase policies to fill in those coverage holes. These policies are called Medicare Supplement or Medigap.

Many of the largest insurance companies in the country offer Medicare Supplement plans that give that extra coverage you need.

But before you dive into which Medigap policy to choose, let’s take a look at how Medicare works:

These are the three “parts” of Medicare:

• Medicare Part A: This provides coverage for hospital, nursing and hospice care.
• Medicare Part B: For a monthly premium, this part of Medicare provides coverage for doctors’ fees and other medical services.
• Medicare Part D: This part of Medicare was designed to provide prescription drug coverage. Part D plans are administered by private insurers.

With traditional Medicare alone, you might need to meet a certain deductible, say $500, and you might have to pay a copayment of $30 to $50 when you visit a doctor. In some cases, your out-of-pocket costs can be a few hundred dollars and even reach into the thousands.

But a Medicare Supplement plan can cover many of the above costs for a low monthly premium. Usually, Medigap policies can range from $50 to $100 a month.

Traditional Medicare and Medicare Supplement are good options, but not the only one. If you’d rather receive your Medicare benefits through a private insurance company instead of the federal government, you can purchase what’s known as a Medicare Advantage plan.

A Medicare Advantage plan really is just another choice you have in getting access to high quality, affordable health care.

When you’re ready to compare plans, there are a few good services online such as InsureLane.com or HealthInsuranceProviders.com. Be sure to work with a licensed independent health insurance agent that can help you compare plans from many different insurance companies. To view instant quotes on Florida health insurance then simply enter your zip code above.

There’s a lot of talk in the news about COBRA, the federal law that gives recently laid off workers the right to keep their employer-sponsored group health insurance for a temporary period of time.

What’s not discussed as much is a related law called HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which gives you additional rights when it comes to accessing health insurance coverage.

The HIPAA law was passed in 1996 and typically applies to Americans who switch group health plans, or those who move to the individual health insurance market from employer-based coverage.

So what exactly is HIPAA? And how does it protect me?

Understanding How HIPAA Works

One of the main provisions in HIPAA is that it protects your insurance coverage when you change jobs. The law ensures you maintain coverage for any of your “pre-existing” health conditions.

If you have a heart condition, for example, HIPAA requires that your new insurance company cover your medical expenses for your heart health. If HIPAA didn’t exist, your new plan could exclude coverage for any procedure that related to the heart condition.

Under HIPAA, you are also guaranteed to be able to purchase an individual health insurance plan through a private insurer. The catch in the individual market is that insurance companies aren’t required to sell particular plans to HIPAA-eligible applicants, so HIPAA plans can be fairly expensive.

But you do need to meet certain qualifications to ensure you’re covered under the HIPAA law.

To be protected under HIPAA:

• You can’t have a break of insurance coverage longer than 63 days
• You must have been covered by your former plan for at least 12 months

Your previous plan must also be considered by federal law as “creditable.” Here’s a list of qualifying creditable plans:

• Employer-sponsored group health insurance
• Government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and TriCare
• Plans included in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program
• Plans from state or local governments or the Indian Health Service

HIPAA also protects your privacy and security when it comes to the passing of sensitive information about your medical history.

Finding a HIPAA Health Plan

To learn if you might qualify for a Florida HIPAA health insurance plan then be sure to first compare instant Florida health insurance quotes by entering your zip code above and then call one of our independent Florida health insurance agents at the 800 # above.

Some people may be of the opinion that all health insurance agents are created equal and it does not really matter what type of agent one chooses. Here are 3 reasons that I hope are quite convincing as they make the case that you should consider working only with an independent health insurance agent:

1. Selection – While many agents are only able to offer health insurance plans from one or two insurance companies an independent agent has no such limitations. Each of our independent health insurance agents are able to work with all of the various insurance companies. This in turn allows the insurance shopper to pick and choose; comparing rates from all of the top health insurance providers.

2. Objectivity – When an agent is only able to offer a limited selection of health insurance plans then the tendency is for the agent to highlight his company’s benefits while strongly downplaying any potential shortcomings. This is to be expected when an agent is compensated only for selling health insurance plans from one particular insurance company. The independent agent is under no such constraints as they are happy to point out the pros and cons for each of the different companies and typically be able to offer a much more objective opinion on the different options.

3. Relationship – An independent health insurance agent is potentially a much more valuable long term resource than an agent that is affiliated with only one insurance company. If a client is best served by changing health insurance companies to find a lower rate, select different benefits, or simply needs to adjust coverage because their health insurance needs have changed over time then an independent agent is happy to continue to be of service to the client and help them select a new company while an agent offering only one company’s products is unfortunately unable to meet the client’s needs. The length and depth of the client-agent relationship has much more of a chance to grow when an independent agent is involved which leads to many money saving opportunities for the client. This is why each of our independent health insurance agents conduct annual policy reviews with each of their clients to evaluate client needs and make sure that they are with the insurance company and health plan that best meets their needs.

No matter what your insurance needs are be sure and request quotes at the top of the page and then be in contact with one of our independent life and health insurance agents today!