Free Health Insurance Quotes

Health insurance for your family is extremely important. Try to remember that just like auto insurance and home insurance, you are insuring yourself and your family against catastrophic loss.

By using the quote box to the right of this article we can match you instantly with a free health insurance quote.

Health Insurance in America

According to the latest U.S. Census about 85% of people in the United States have health insurance with approximately 60% obtaining their coverage through the companies they work for via employer sponsored group health insurance benefits which are either fully or partially paid for by the company they work for - this leaves about 15% of the population (just under 47 million people) in America without any health benefits at all. If you find yourself in this group like I do, please use our online quote service to find and compare the best online health insurance quotes

Group Health vs. Individual Health Insurance

The Group and Individual health insurance markets are completely different. In most Group plans the insured will have some sort of co-pay and no coinsurance and sometimes not even a deductible, depending on the group plan and the network they belong to.

Individual health insurance is generally obtained by approaching companies or agents who specialize in creating health insurance quotes for families who do not have an employer sponsored plan available to them. Many individual health plans do not have co-pays, but most have deductibles and coinsurance.

Health Insurance Terms & Definitions

Some terms and definitions which you will want to be aware of are:

• Deductible: Similar to an auto or home insurance deductible, this is the amount of money you will have to pay before your health insurance begins to pay for your doctor or medical bills (usually via a coinsurance agreement). The deductible under most plans will reset at the end of the benefit period which is usually about a year.
• Coinsurance: This is a term which is used to describe how the insurance company and the insured will split any medical, doctor or health related billing after the deductible is reached.
• Copayment: This is usually a fixed amount which the health insurance plan requires the insured to pay to the doctor or party rendering the covered medical service for the services received.
• Maximum plan dollar limit: This is the maximum benefit that a plan will pay out for an individual, usually designated per benefit period or by lifetime maximum. Most plans cap their lifetime maximum limit at $1,000,000 per person.

You can find more health insurance terms and definitions at the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics in the document titled, "Definitions Of Health Insurance Terms"

My Health Insurance Story

Last year, after being laid off from my corporate job, I started the process of shopping for health insurance I could afford. I almost threw all of the health insurance quotes out the window when I received them because the most affordable health insurance quote sent was around $550/month. Even so, I made the decision to get the insurance and have been struggling to make the payment ever since. In February, I was hospitalized for an irregular heartbeat. About one month earlier, my wife and I actually had a conversation where we considered canceling the health insurance because it was such a significant drain on our finances. However, when we received the hospital bill I was never so glad I had insurance in my entire life! The bill was just a little short of $23,000 for a five day stay.

Remember, I was not admitted with any major trauma, I did not require major surgery, or drastic life saving measures which would have certainly driven the bill up thousands of dollars. I was simply hooked up to a heart monitor and given medication for five days along with a cardio catheterization before being released. $550 per equals $6,600 per year which means we received almost 3.5 years worth of benefit in a single hospital stay.

Our coinsurance for the in-network hospital stay was $100/day up to a maximum of $500 - so our total out of pocket if you consider the 12 months of paid premium was $7,100 - a good deal!

Online Health Insurance Quotes are our business at Quote-Compare-Save.com - fill out the quote box above to be instantly matched with up to 5 different local insurance companies which will provide you with health insurance quotes to protect you & your family.