Affordable Health Insurance

Health insurance can be a difficult thing to shop for. But getting cheaper health insurance can be as easy as shopping around, watching what you eat, and keeping your financial record in good shape. Group policies will always be less costly than individual policies, but here are some ways to get the most for your health insurance dollar.

Fitness and Diet

Take care of yourself and eat well to improve your insurance rates. Cut back on sugars and fats, caffeine, and cholesterol. Quit smoking. Join a fitness program at the local gym. The more proactive you are about your own health, the better your rates can be on a health insurance policy. Similarly, avoiding risky activities like mountain climbing or skydiving can lower your costs by reducing the risks of insuring you.

Multiple Policy Discounts

If you have more than one policy written by the same insurance company, you will be able to get cheaper health insurance quotes. Writing multiple policies for the same person has been shown to be less risky for insurance companies, and they pass the savings on to you by giving you lower premiums for having your health, house and car insured by the same company.

Credit and CLUE Reports

Your credit score will play a large part in determining what your rates will be in states that allow it’s use. Keeping your credit score at 650 or higher is a good way to save money on all your insurance needs. Similarly, your CLUE report is a history of your insurance claims, spread across all your insurance policies. By keeping the number of claims you file to a minimum, you will be reducing what you must pay for the coverage you need.

Higher Deductibles for Lower Premiums

You can have a huge impact on the amount of your premiums by adjusting your deductibles. For example, if your deductible is raised, then your premiums will go down. The problem with adjusting your deductibles, though, is that you must pay this amount out of pocket before the rest of the policy will kick in, so never set your deductible higher than you can realistically pay at a moment’s notice.

Shop Around for Best Rates

To get the best rates, you will have to do more than look for discounts. You will also have to shop for the best quotes from different companies. By getting online insurance quotes, you will be able to compare the cost of premiums between multiple companies at the same time, which avoids having to fill out the same forms over and over again as well as the necessity of checking in with every insurance company on your list individually. Even when all the discounts and other savings have been calculated, the final choice may come down to the simple fact that one company charges a little more for their policies than the company you choose to get your cheaper health insurance from.