Customize Your Insurance – Part II

In Part I of this article we discussed Life Insurance and some of the things to look for when shopping for life insurance. In this next part I will discuss health insurance. For those who are forced to pay for health insurance out of their own pockets this can easily be the most expensive and painful type of insurance to own. More and more Americans these days are completely forgetting about health insurance and paying for illness, doctor’s visits and trips to the hospital out of their pockets, which is not recommended.

As mentioned before many people are going without health insurance in America these days, this is completely unacceptable. The purpose of any type of insurance is to prepare for the worst and to be sure you and your loved ones are taken care of in that worst case scenario. If your children got sick would you really want limits on the level of health care they can receive?

The best way to keep your monthly payments down in to search for health insurance plans is to sign up for a plan which has a high deductible. A higher deductible always results in a lower premium. Assuming you are a healthy person, taking the highest possible deductible which you can afford to pay. If money is a serious problem for you and any type of health insurance is a struggle it is suggest that you take a look at a minimum policy that offers at least “catastrophic coverage.” This way you can sleep sound knowing if anything unexpected does happen, you won’t be stuck with possibly tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

How long can you afford to live if you are involved in an accident or a serious illness that prevents your from working? Exactly! Many employers offer coverage in their plans but it is a good idea to check out the exact details of what you are being offered. This is what you should look for: Coverage should cover at least 70% of your income to in order to allow you to continue living a comfortable life while dealing with the stresses you may be facing. It is also very important that your coverage is for “owner’s occupation.” This protects you should your illness or injury prevent you from returning to your pre-accident job. Avoid policies that only offer coverage if you can’t return to any type of occupation, also make sure your policy is “guaranteed renewable” so that’s your provider can’t cancel your policy on you. The final part to look for is the “elimination period.” This is the amount of time you must wait after your injury or illness before your policy starts making payments. 2-3 months is typical.