Health insurance premiums are rising faster than almost any other fixed cost in New Hampshire. In fact, health care premiums are so costly that almost one half of all New Hampshire families report that paying their monthly health care premiums is severely straining their monthly budget.
If your company offers a group health care plan you should look into it, as group plans are almost invariably less expensive than individual health plans.
As high as health care premiums are, New Hampshire residents actually have it better than the residents of many other states thanks to the New Hampshire Health Plan, or NHHP.
Under NHHP many residents of New Hampshire who cannot otherwise afford or qualify for private health care insurance (often due to a pre-existing medical condition) can still obtain state-sponsored health care insurance. To see if you qualify for New Hampshire’s NHHP health insurance coverage go here: http://www.ezquoteguide.com
But even if you do qualify for NGGP insurance there are still a number of things you can do right now to lower the cost of your monthly health insurance.
For one thing you can stop smoking or using tobacco products. Smokers pay up to 30 or even 50% more for health care insurance than non-smokers. Similarly, overweight individuals, who are at greater risk for a number of health-related problems, also pay more for health insurance. There are many good reasons to lose weight, and lower health care insurance is one of them.
If you have a dangerous job or if you drive a sporty car you can also be tagged for higher monthly premiums.
Many health insurance plans offer you an option for the size of your co-payment (copay). Increasing your copay (which means you will pay more each time you have a routine doctor’s office visit or any time you have lab work done) can reduce your monthly premiums substantially. If you do not see the doctor very often in a normal year this may be an excellent option for you.
One of the fastest ways of lowering your monthly health insurance premium is to increase your yearly health insurance deductible. The more you are willing to pay out of your own pocket for your health care before you even ask your insurance to begin paying, the lower your monthly premiums will be.
Finally, get online and check out all of your options on 2 or more of the many websites that allow you to make quick comparisons between the prices of insurance policies between different insurance companies. In order to guarantee that you are comparing as many different companies as possible, you really need to take the extra time and fill out the forms on at least 2 (and preferably 3) different comparison websites.
Once you have made comparisons on at least 2 different websites you can rest assured that you have gotten the most affordable health insurance that New Hampshire has to offer.