Affordable Health Insurance Rates – Try These And Surprise Yourself With Massive Savings

If your BMI rating is high, your premium will be high. Your insurance carrier passes part of what they save to you by offering you lower rates.

Deregulation of health insurance premiums has resulted in excessive rate increases that require many New Yorkers to pay more for health insurance than they should, and even force some to drop coverage altogether, according to a report issued today by the New York State Insurance Department. Governor David A. Paterson has submitted a bill to reinstate the Insurance Department’s authority to review health insurance premiums before insurers raise rates to ensure that the increases are not excessive.

The high cost of health insurance is one of the most important issues for businesses large and small.” said Governor Paterson. “Deregulation of health insurance rates has resulted in excessive rate increases that have contributed to the high cost of coverage for many New Yorkers. I have submitted a bill that will restore regulation of health insurance rates to help ensure that premiums are not excessive. Superintendent Eric Dinallosaid, “Many New Yorkers are shocked to learn that the Insurance Department does not approve premium increases for health insurance. The Insurance Department report is titled, “The Price of Deregulation: How ‘File and Use’ Has Undermined the State’s Ability to Protect Consumers from Excessive Health Insurance Premiums.” “File and use” is the deregulated mechanism that allows New York State health insurers to increase premium rates without the approval of the Insurance Department.

Prior to 1996, health insurers had to get the Insurance Department’s approval before increasing their premiums. That year, the Legislature deregulated health insurance premiums, giving health insurers the right to simply “file and use” rate increases, allowing them to impose increases with minimal regulatory oversight.

“Group Health Insurance” is health insurance that covers all eligible people in a group regardless of their age or physical condition. In the U.S., group health insurance has generally been provided by employers. Thus, the concepts of employer-based insurance and group health insurance have become linked. However, group health insurance can be provided by other types of organizations such as professional and trade associations, unions, social or civic groups, and governments.

“Small Group Health Insurance” refers to the number of employees (sometimes 1 or 2, but most often between 3 and 25, and sometimes up to 100) covered under a company’s group insurance plan. In the small group market, health insurance prices are based mainly upon two factors. Those individuals who are considered a greater risk will often pay a higher premium for insurance. The following are some of the advantages of group health insurance. First, employer contributions to group health insurance premiums (and often the employee contributions as well) are generally not taxed. Low-cost people are combined with high-risk people in a single risk pool. Third, group health insurance can be cheaper per policy because fixed costs are spread over many policies. The primary disadvantage of group health insurance is the limitation of employee choices when only a limited number/types of plans are offered.

For example, if the only plan offered is an HMO that does not include an employee’s favorite physician, then that employee is not well served by that group health insurance. A key plan design issue for group health insurance is deciding what benefits should be covered and whether workers should have coverage options. Suppose there are flexible benefits for eyewear insurance. If the only people to select eyewear insurance are those who are certain to replace their glasses next year, then the premium for eyewear insurance will equal the cost of buying glasses plus the administrative cost. If employees select the cheapest plan, they get it for free. Should employees without dependents subsidize the premiums of those with dependents?

If you are self-employed or if your company does not offer group policies, then you may need to buy individual health insurance. Individual policies cost more than group policies and generally involve evaluation of your health status through a series of medical questions or physical exam. Individual insurance is somewhat more risky for insurers than group insurance, because group insurance allows the insurer to spread the risk over a larger number of people. For this reason, individual insurance is generally more difficult to obtain and more costly than group insurance.