Individual Health InsuranceIndividual Health Insurance One person or family is covered with an individual health insurance policy. You purchase this kind of plan directly from a health insurance company rather than through an employer intermediary. Employer sponsored health insurance in is a different market than individual health insurance. There are less people to spread the risk of health care expenses, and a disproportionate number of people looking for individual health insurance are in poor health. As a result, individual health insurance is often more limited than group (employer-sponsored) health insurance. Individual health insurance plans normally have lower premiums, and less coverage than comparable group insurance plans. Employer health insurance packages are often relatively generous since tax policy provides advantages to employers who offer health insurance benefits rather than higher wages. Advantages of Individual Health InsuranceYour individual health insurance policy is an agreement between you and the health insurance provider. You get the opportunity to customize your policy when you are getting an individual health insurance policy, for example, you may specify the deductible, coinsurance amount, and even include or exclude certain provisions of the policy. Any changes will, of course, affect your premiums, so be careful to balance risk with cost. What to Expect with Individual Health InsuranceIndividual health insurance applicants must be evaluated by the health insurance company, who will determine how much risk you present to the insurer. The price of your individual health insurance will be determined by the risk evaluation; some individuals will not be eligible at all. The health insurance company will evaluate you using a series of questions and/or a physical exam. Your medical history will be documented thoroughly by the insurance company. Since the majority of insurance companies verify the information with the Medical Information Bureau (MIB), it isn't wise to lie about it. If you have a pre-existing condition, it may be excluded from your individual health insurance policy on an exclusion rider before you can get individual health insurance coverage. The Future of Individual Health InsuranceThere are proposals working their way through the legal system today that will help make individual health insurance more affordable and offer better tax benefits to individuals purchasing their own health insurance. |