Friday, January 23, 2009

family health insurance in California

By Jeff CLine

Have you heard the story of the man that landed in a bankruptcy court, the victim of financial ruin. Simply due to an unforeseen illness and the lack of health insurance. He could have avoided this all along simply buy doing some research. The State of California has numerous plans to meet the needs of all residents to help them avoid that very situation.

There are HIPPA eligible plans that must be offered by carriers. This way the question of Am I eligible should not be in question. There are no regulations on insurers deciding on if someone is eligible, but due to HIPPA even those declined have options.

Insurers do have to offer HIPPA guaranteed plans, but the are free to choose what plans. They can choose nay basic plan as long as they have 2 choices. HIPPA also lets the insurer set forth a pre existing period of 6-12 months depend on the number of participants on a plan.

Insurers are not told how much they can charge in premium. They usually base there rates on like factors. They may base them on you health condition, your age and the economical location you live in. You may expect to pay a higher premium if you have 1 or 2 costly medical conditions or even a history of one. You should consider all this when trying to figure how much you can afford to pay in premium.

Once you have established coverage you can not be cancelled unless you fail to pay your premium. The insurer must give you an opportunity for renewal every year. This regulation is to protect the consumer. The insurer is protected by being given the freedom to review your status and increase the amount of premium you currently pay.

There are many plan options available to the consumer. Earlier we discussed the HIPPA plans but there are the HMO plans, the very popular PPOs and the financial savvy HSAs. So now that you know you are eligible for coverage it is time to look into these plans a bit.

Lets talk about the HMO. This is a great plan for someone that wants one main provider to over see your care. The PPO allows for freedom. In a PPO you can change doctors every week if you would like and choose your own specialist and schedule your own appointments. With an HSA you can have savor low premiums but not scrimp on benefits.

So I challenge you today to take a sit set a budget and seek out the health insurance that meets your needs. You owe it to yourself and your financial future. It is simply to risky to go without health insurance. It can cost you your happiness and your health. - 15224

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