Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Affordable Alabama State Health Insurance? Try These Tips

By Chimezirim Odimba

A cheap Alabama health care insurance rate can be achieved in a lot of ways. However, some of them could put you at risk. I don't usually support such ways as they defeat the main purpose of insurance in the first place. Therefore, I'll only show you suggestions that will also have you well covered despite saving you much. Here they are...

1. Staying loyal to one insurance company for any considerable length of time will actually lead to savings. A number of insurance providers will give you discounts of around five percent once you stick to them for over three years while others will give you discounts for staying up to 5 years. Staying longer will result in bigger discounts.

However although it is a good way to save, you may get more savings if you forget about a loyalty discount and go over to another insurance company..

Say, for example, that your premium with your present insurance provider is $2,500 you'll get a discount of about 5 percent or $125 if you continue from three years and above.

But we can almost say with some certainty that because of inflation and the rising cost of health care your rate might not stay the same. But while you're at it, some other insurer might be willing to give you a rate of $2,000 or less within that period. Then it would be anything but wisdom to stay put because you want to qualify for a discount down the road knowing that the expected discount is less than savings you'll get immediately if you change to another insurer.

But believe it or not, most people can pay far less with another insurer if they will only take the time to shop properly.. Considering that the process of getting and comparing quotes requires just minutes, I will wonder why you will not do that now and get lower rates immediately.

2. A group health expense sharing plan is another way to reduce your cost. This refers to a group of individuals who have decided to collectively give themselves health insurance coverage. They are normally associated with big organizations like churches.

Each usually sets its own rules and determine the kind and level of coverage members receive.

You can check out groups like this, know what they provide and see if they fit your health care needs. You can expect your rate to be far less if you locate a group that fits your needs.

3. Your drug cost may sometimes be less than your co-pay. There are instances where it will cost you less if you do not use your insurance but buy a prescription out of your own pocket. In such cases, you will save more by choosing the options that offer you more savings.

Check and find out the difference before you use your insurance.

4. A simple but rewarding way of lowering your premium is by authorizing an EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer). By doing this you authorize an insurance provider to automatically withdraw your payments from your account at specified intervals. This saves the insurance company in many ways including eliminating the cost of mailing payment notices and the cost associated with processing checks. This is why this results in discounts.

5. You will spend far less and reduce your costs if you buy your prescriptions online. You can as well get cheaper prices if you buy by phone. The internet lowers the cost of doing business and pharmaceutical companies or groups who sell their drugs online do so at lower rates.

However, you'll do well to check the company you are buying from so you do not put yourself at risk. Organizations like BBB can tell you if you if a company should be trusted or not so don't fail to check.

This is really very important as you won't want to risk your life all in the name of trying to save money.

6. You can bring down your Alabama medical/health insurance premium by obtaining and evaluating quotes from at least five reputable insurance quotes sites.

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