Want To Reduce Your Health Insurance Premium? Here’s How

Have a correct sum health insurance at correct age. It’s critical to have the correct amount protected – you should keep your health, age, and wage as a top priority while acquiring a health insurance cover; purchasing abundance or deficient coverage can prompt significant issues. 

In the event that you are over-insured then there will be a higher health insurance premium outgo. Then again, on the off chance that you are under-guaranteed then you may need to pay additional from your pocket. 

One likewise needs to observe expansion while considering paying a health insurance premium – for example, a ten lakh policy today would be lacking five-to-ten years down the line.The major factors are:

Decide on willful co-payment

In the event that you are young and healthy, you can pick a high willful sum and get a concession on premium rates from the back up plan. As the likelihood of falling sick is less when young, it’s an incredible method to get moderate premium rates from the health insurance companies. 



You can select high willful sum when you are young, healthy, and have an enduring stream of wage; it’s an extraordinary method to limit premium cost. Co-installment is the part of claim that must be first paid by the policyholder at the season of a settlement, which can be additionally isolated as mandatory and willful.

Buy insurance on the web

You ought to consider purchasing a health insurance policy on the web, as there are extensive rebates accessible on premiums. Online health insurance strategies are nearly less expensive that those sold by operators specifically, as the insurance organization doesn’t need to pay a commission to specialists, and the advantage is straightforwardly passed on to the purchaser. In addition, purchasing a health insurance policy online is both problem free and helpful for the client.

Choose a more drawn out tenure

Health insurance approaches are required to be reestablished each year, in any case, some health insurance organizations offer strategies that have a term time of a few years. There are advantages of picking a more drawn out tenure health insurance policy as one gets critical rebates on premium.

Select a Family Floater policy

While picking a health insurance plan, it’s basic to consider the coverage prerequisites of your family also. One can profit rebates while choosing a family floater policy, as the general premium is partitioned among all safeguarded relatives. 

Since premium is charged based on coverage, health insurance organizations additionally allow you to modify your coverage includes according to your requirements.

No claim benefit plans

In the event that there is a zero claim in the earlier year, the greater part of the insurance organizations give a no claim reward. Subsequently it’s critical to check with the insurance organization whether they offer a no claim reward. One can utilize a no claim reward to get additional coverage without paying the extra premium.

Lead a healthy lifestyle

Your lifestyle decides your health. You are less inclined to illnesses and infections on the off chance that you endeavor to live healthily. This is featured by numerous health insurance organizations that offer unique premium rebates for the same.

The Bottom Line

There are a few elements influencing everything with regards to choosing the premium of your health insurance cover – ‘age’ stays one of the conspicuous elements. As age expands so do the premium of health insurance companies. 

Subsequently, one should buy a insurance policy at the earliest opportunity to profit the advantages of a lower premium. Thus, by breaking down the coverage and its highlights, you can spare your well deserved cash. Straightforward tips will help diminish your health insurance premium.

Author Bio: Sidharth Kapoor is a well known financial insurance advisor with the abilities to keep a track and predict the market trends with the utmost accuracy.He has done PGDBM in finance. He has worked on different financial sectors dealing with the entire range of Insurance like health Insurance,life insurance,personal accident insurance and also contribute as a writer at insuranceoverview blog more. He is also an expert in writing many finance related articles and blogs.

Getting Older? 4 Financial Plans You Need to Have in Place

A part of getting older is planning for your retirement. You need to have financial goals to help you get where you want to go. Here are some financial plans that you need to have in place.

Set a Realistic Budget

A budget will allow you to live within your means. You need to take a hard look at where your money is going. Determine if there are any areas that need some work. If you are living paycheck to paycheck, you need to reevaluate your lifestyle choices. 

Retirement will be difficult if you don’t have a nest egg set aside. Figure out how much money you’ll need to have in order to live comfortably. Have a little extra left over in your budget. Set this money aside for any unexpected expenses.

Work Towards Debt Elimination

Debt can be crippling if you don’t have a steady income. You would have more wiggle room in your budget if you didn’t have to pay off your debt. The best way to eliminate debt is to pay more than the minimum each month. 



Consider how much money you are losing just paying the interest. This money could be better spent somewhere else if you were able to eliminate your debt load. Look at creative ways that you can pay off this debt.

Keep Health Insurance in Mind

Many people have health insurance through their employers. Once you retire, this will be an added strain on your budget. Schedule an appointment to talk to a lawyer about medicaid planning. 

They can help you through this process so that you can still have health coverage. As you get older, medical treatment becomes more necessary. Not having insurance can leave you saddled with major medical bills. 

This can quickly eat up any money that you have set aside.

Invest in Retirement

There is still time to start saving for the future. Take advantage if your employer offers a 401k. You have other means of starting a retirement account. Traditional IRA and Roth IRAs are also available. 

These will allow you to put money away for your future. As you get closer to retirement age, you can put more money into these accounts. This will offer you a preview of what it will be like to live on more limited means. Then you can adjust your lifestyle as needed.

You need to create a financial plan in order to prepare for retirement. You may need some assistance in developing your plan. Use the tools that are at your disposal.

Health Insurance For Senior Citizens – A Quick Take

You will be surprised to know that most of the health insurance service providers prefer to provide health insurance coverage to younger customers. They do it because of the risk of coverage for younger clients are lower.

After having said that, more than younger customers, it is senior citizens or your aged parents which needs more coverage. Thus, to avoid the catch 22 situation, it is better to buy health insurance plan when you are still young.

However, if you are looking for some vital aspects to consider before availing a best health insurance policy for senior citizens, this is the blog for you.

What is The Need For Health Insurance For Senior Citizens?

Before you avail health insurance for senior citizens, you should first need to understand the need for such a plan for them. 

• As people grow old, they become prone to illness. Senior citizens survive on a pension and interest income earned on savings. But, medical expenses can easily consume their savings and hence, it is a must to avail a health insurance plan. 
• Illness and ageing go hand in hand. We are not saying that someone who is aged will fall ill, however, the chances are always on a higher side. Thus, when you have health insurance to pay off your medical bills, it removes the worry. Hence, a health insurance lets a senior citizen live a hassle-free life. 
• Another basic need of health insurance is that a medical emergency can happen anytime in life. And those expenses could be high. You could see many families in debts due to a history of medical expenses. Hence, if you have health insurance scheme in action, you could avoid the situation and manage funds easily. 

Senior Citizens Health Insurance Benefits At a Glance

Here are some of the vital health insurance benefits of availing a health insurance plan for senior citizens as compared to no health insurance for them such as:

• Flexibility to choose the assured sum as per your preferences and needs 
• Yes, the policy will cover your parents or any other dependent senior citizen, you will also get some tax benefits under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act
• You can always return your policy in case you don’t find it good enough and match your profile or risk appetite. Yes, every policy has a risk-free period extended to a few days which starts after you have received your policy. You can always cancel it and get a full refund of the insurance premium. 
• Senior citizen’s insurance policy also covers day care expenses for procedures requiring a day’s time such as chemotherapy, dialysis and more. 
• An insured person can also take the benefit of yearly health check-ups via a health insurance policy. 
• If a senior citizen is hospitalized for more than 24 hours, he/she can utilize cashless hospitalization facilities. Consultation fees, room charges, medical bills and more are covered under the health insurance scheme. 
• Ambulance services are also included in the schemes, sometimes. 
• Pre and post hospitalization costs are also covered under a health insurance policy. 

The Bottom Line

Now that you are well-versed with the need for health insurance for senior citizens, advantages of such policies and more, you can apply for one online these days.

Assess the needs of your aged-parents and more senior dependents and apply for the best health insurance policy for senior citizen online and secure their health effectively.

5 Common Health Insurance Woes faced by Insurer

With the cost of medical treatments rising year-by-year, you need an affordable health insurance policy to cover health expenses and keep your related concerns at bay. Health insurance is certainly not an alien concept to most people, and people are quite aware of the different benefits and covers offered by various insurance companies to their customers.

Most of the articles online, focus on the strengths of an insurance policy, but a well-informed individual will also be aware of the setbacks or pains they are likely to face at the time of purchasing or renewing their health insurance. Here are a few of the most common pain areas:

1. Reminders for policy renewal

One common pain shared by modern individuals across societies is the consistent reminders to renew a policy. These reminders upset the organized, but people who are not as fastidious with their updates are happy to receive these reminders. 

But, even for them the incessant mails, SMS, and even phone calls, can become a pain point. In India, a person can opt to be put on the Do-Not-Disturb list, but, a reminder is better than missing a premium.

2. Hike in renewal premium

Inflation can result from many factors, but a general rise in inflation of a country, along with advancement in the field of medicine can directly impact your premium at the time of a policy renewal. 

A first-time buyer will also be affected by the increased rates, but since a health insurance is a must, there is no avoiding this increase.

3. Better terms for new buyers

Though most insurance companies will go out of their way to keep old and new customers at par, sometimes they may not be able to do so. 

In such a case, a policyholder seeing a new policy with better coverage or a lower premium or the option of getting a health insurance for parents without a medical test may not be too happy.

4. Shell money from pockets

According to the CEO of HealthAssure, “improper maintenance of customer's’ database by insurance companies is one of the major causes of increased cash deposits.” Well, this brings no solace to customers expecting a cashless hospital stay, who end up paying a hefty amount from their pockets. 

Though companies reimburse payments as per the affordable health insurance policy, yet the pain of arranging money cannot be denied.

5. Inability to meet representatives at hospitals and nursing homes

This is especially true at nighttime, when an insurance representative handling the policy may not be present in the hospital. A patient is then bound to take a decision based on equity available in hand. 

Though the medical personnel have a fair idea of what can or cannot be covered, it is not a confirmed option. As an informed person, all a customer can do is check on the availability of an insurance representative at night in a healthcare center, and if possible, go there for treatment when the need arises.

To sum up

Even an affordable health insurance policy is accompanied with deductible expenses, implying that almost 90% medical expenses of the insured are covered, and the remaining expenses are to be paid for by the customers. 

However, despite these pain points, there is one thing to be said, compare, compare, compare, the different policies on offer, before you invest in a health insurance policy.

Broken Wallets: How to Manage Your Personal Finances after a Personal Injury

Personal injuries can happen to anyone and at any time. Usually, they lead to great financial distress as you have to pay for medical care and the fact that you will be out of work for some time. 

Even people who are covered by health insurance will have to pay a portion of the medical costs. Depending on the severity of the injury, you may have to spend a lot of time from work, and the opportunity cost will mount over months.

It is important to learn how to manage your finances after a personal injury accident as this will help to ease the stress experienced through the period. Here are some helpful tips to help you manage your finances in case of such events:

Find out how Much Money you have

It is not possible to plan your finances if you don't have a specific figure to work with. When calculating your money, be sure to include all assets that can easily be liquidated. Other assets can be used to calculate your net worth, although this figure will only be relevant if you are going to be out of work for a very long time. 




You should include the last paycheck that you got or are about to get. Any other money that will be coming in during the period should be taken into account.

Review your Budget

Without a paycheck, you will have to edit out some purchases. In your budget, you can eliminate or reduce the expenditure on non-essential products and services. If your finances are still overstretched, you can reduce the expenditure on essentials. 

For example, you can choose to buy foods with generic branding. Cable TV can be cut or reduced for some time to lower your costs. Electricity bills can also be adjusted to suit the prevailing financial situation.

Entertainment costs don't have to be cut off completely unless you are in a particularly tight situation. A little entertainment can keep you occupied and relaxed when you aren't reporting to work for several months. 

You can simply reduce your expenditure by opting for more affordable entertainment. For example, you can find a cheaper theatre or restaurant to go to on weekends.

Negotiate with Creditors

Instead of hiding from creditors, you can renegotiate the payment plans in light of the situation. Some are even likely to extend financial help through the stressful period. You can suggest a reduction in the monthly payments or such arrangements. Here are some further tips on how you can negotiate with creditors.

Find a Part-Time Job

Even with an injury, you can get work. For example, many online jobs can be done by people who are physically challenged. 

Also, short-term disability programs can employ you for the period that you will be out of work. Whatever income you get from these temporary jobs can be used to expand your budget and allow you to live more comfortably.

Legal Expenses

The biggest expenditure in cases of personal injury is legal fees. Good personal injury lawyers don't come cheap. 

It is not advisable to choose lawyers based on their cost, especially in cases that relate to personal injury. Instead, pay the best lawyers and increase your chances of getting a settlement for the inconvenience you have undergone.

Normally, the settlement should cover your costs and inconveniences that result from the injury. If you win the case, you will be able to sustain your normal lifestyle even without a paycheck. 

Attorneys like those at Ahlander Injury Law, a group of personal injury lawyers in Las Vegas can help you get the amount of money you deserve after the accident. Depending on your financial plans, you can choose to get the settlement money in installments, or as a lump sum. 

Generally, the latter option is preferred if you intend to make investments with the money.

Personal injuries can lead to difficult financial situations. You have to adjust your lifestyle and expenditure because of the shrinking budget. 

If you are a victim of personal injury, take the step of making a claim for settlement. This can potentially save you from financial turmoil, especially if you go for the best personal injury lawyers.

Is Your Company Health Insurance Enough for You?

Does your employer provide health insurance? If the answer is yes - that’s great, but there are a few things you may want to consider in order to determine if your corporate health insurance plan is adequate enough to cover most or all of your healthcare related expenses. 

Health insurance is often offered by companies as an additional perk, and as such, rarely do we really look into what’s actually covered by our plan, or compare it with other plans.

While company-sponsored health insurance does provide us with access to superior care offered in private facilities (e.g. shorter waiting times and additional privacy), some group policies may offer only basic benefits with low limits or coverage elements, meaning that you may end up having to pay a large and completely unexpected out-of-pocket medical bill! 

This article by global insurance advisor Pacific Prime Singapore highlights the things you may want to consider in order to find out if your company health insurance is enough for you.

How protected are you?

Let’s face it, most people don’t apply the same degree of due diligence on health plans provided by their employers as they would on other plans. It’s a good idea to firstly find out what coverage levels are provided, these include:

Inpatient only: This is the most basic (and usually the cheapest) form of health insurance, and will cover hospitalization costs only. Any other expenses (e.g. visiting the GP) are not covered.

Inpatient and outpatient: With this type of plan, you’ll enjoy coverage for both inpatient and outpatient expenses.

Full coverage plans: If you’re lucky enough to be given a full coverage company health insurance plan, additional benefits such as coverage for dental care or mental health will also be included, on top of your inpatient and outpatient coverage benefits.

Coverage limits

To save on costs, companies will typically purchase group plans with low coverage maximums, meaning that once this limit has been reached, the patient could end up spending hundreds and thousands on treatment. 

For further peace of mind and to reduce financial risk, a top-up insurance plan is recommended for taking away that financial liability and adding additional coverage elements that your company health insurance may not have provided.

What about copayments and deductibles?

Employers may shift some of the company health insurance costs onto their employees by providing plans with high copayments and deductibles. This is because premiums on plans will tend to be lower when copayments and deductibles are higher.

Copayments are a fixed amount you agree to pay for every claim, and a deductible is an amount you will need to pay each year or for each claim. 

If your company health insurance copayment or deductible is too high, you may want to offset these risks with a top-up plan.

Pre-existing conditions

Another thing to be aware of is whether your company’s health insurance plan covers pre-existing conditions. Common pre-existing conditions include chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and high blood pressure. 

Receiving treatment for these conditions can be expensive, which is why some plans don’t cover this or have limits that are too low to cover the bulk of the costs related to treating chronic conditions, meaning that employees may need to purchase top-up insurance.

Portability: does it cover you abroad?

How portable is your health insurance plan? Unforeseen accidents can happen anywhere, no matter how safe a country is, so it’s essential to be covered wherever you go. 

It is therefore essential to double check the regions covered by your company health insurance policy. Most plans will cover you in one region only, as they tend to be cheaper. 

People with local company health insurance policies will usually purchase top-up plans that provide international coverage, or purchase travel insurance every time they go abroad for additional peace of mind.

It can be confusing going through all the fine print of your corporate health insurance plan all on your own, which is why it often pays to talk to a trusted broker like Pacific Prime Singapore for additional advice.

About the author

If you are looking for the best value health insurance plans on the market, why not visit Pacific Prime Singapore’s Company Health Insurance Page to purchase your plan today? Their team of experienced insurance advisors offer a wealth of experience that you can rely on.

Five Tips for Fighting an Unfair Hospital Bill

If you are faced with an overwhelming hospital bill, it can feel like the world is crashing down upon you. It is not uncommon for people without (and sometimes even with) health insurance to be beset by hospital bills in the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to get out from under this mountain of hospital debt. Here is a look at five tips for fighting an unfair hospital bill.

Negotiate

Hospitals do not all charge the same rates, and the ones that overcharge have a lot of room to lower your unfair hospital bill and still make a profit. If you feel like your bill is too high, talk with the hospital’s accounting department to get it lowered.

Review the Bill Thoroughly

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for hospitals to make mistakes on the bills they send customers. The sad thing is that most of these mistakes tend to be in benefit of the hospital rather than the patient. To prevent yourself from falling victim to these mistakes, you need to go over every bill you receive from the hospital with a fine tooth comb. Double and triple check the bills to make sure you are not being overcharged, or charged for services you did not receive.

Appeal the Insurer’s Decision

You may sometimes come across a portion of your bill that you are being charged for that you feel should be covered by your health insurance. If this is the case, do not hesitate to contact your insurer to appeal the decision. This will not always work, but it can be a way to remove some of the charges from your bill if there happens to be a mistake or miscalculation.

Get Help from Professionals

If you are feeling overwhelmed by your large hospital bill, you can seek professional help to get it lowered. Professional patient advocates can help people who are facing unfair hospital bills to get them lowered to a more reasonable amount. This kind of help often comes in handy when you are still dealing with an illness or recovering from a surgery. If you don’t have the strength or ability to fight the unfair bill on your own, an advocate can step in and do a lot of the leg work for you. 

Ask for Financial Assistance from the Hospital

Many hospitals are willing to provide patients who are struggling financially with help. However, you may have to apply for Medicare first and get denied before the hospital will give it to you. It is well worth this to get financial help from the hospital to lower your bill—especially if the amount is overwhelmingly high.

An unfair hospital bill may feel insurmountable, but there is always a way to handle it. According to the personal injury lawyers in Halifax at the Cantini Law Group, you won’t always win the battle when fighting an unfair hospital bill, but it is always worth it to ask. Try a few tactics to see if the hospital is willing to work with you, and then seek professional help. If these methods don’t work, you might need to reach out to another financial institution to get the bill paid in a timely and manageable manner.

If I Fall Behind on my Health Insurance Premiums What Happens?

If you’re having financial difficulties it may be that you’re in danger of falling behind on your health insurance premiums. This can obviously be a worrying time for you but it needn't be major problem unless you let it.

The most important thing to note is that you should always take out a plan that you feel as though you can keep up with. That way you can avoid many problems. But many of us have unexpected changes in our lives that mean are financial circumstances are different. There is always a chance you will experience difficulties in paying your premiums, but finding an affordable plan at the outset is still the best option. Keep reading at the HBF health insurance site, where you can learn more about the coverage available & ask questions relevant to your situation.

Can I get help with health insurance from the outset?

If you’re looking at the health insurance marketplace you’ll be able to view a lot of different plans with different provisions and costs. You will probably be able to find a plan that is suitable for your budget. However, there are tax credits available if you are really struggling to afford your health insurance.

You have access to these tax credits straight away and they are intended to take some of the pressure off you financially by enabling you to afford a health insurance plan. You don’t have to buy a plan through the marketplace but it does give you a wide range of choice and it does give you the option of applying for tax credit help. 

If I experience problems after purchase what happens if I miss payments?

If you get a plan that you can afford then hopefully you won’t have any difficulties but life doesn’t always work that way. We have all experienced unexpected events in our life and one of these may lead to you having problems with continuing to pay your premiums.

There are rules that apply under the Affordable Care Act to allow for issues that people may have meeting payment requirements. The one thing you should always remember is to let your insurer know as soon as you are aware that you will be having difficulties; there is no point trying to hide the issue as this will not help. The rules of the Affordable Care Act mean that you have three months within which to catch up with payments you have missed.

Of course this doesn’t mean you should take the whole three months, the sooner you can get back on track with your payments the better. There‘s a very good reason for this as your insurer will only accept claims from you for thirty days after you miss a payment. If you don’t catch up by this time you stand the chance of being faced with a large bill if you have the misfortune of falling ill.

This isn’t going to help you financially and may lead to you missing further premium payments. This is a potentially serious situation as if you don’t pay all of the premiums due by the end of the three months your insurance will be cancelled.

How to Save Money on Your Parent's Senior Living

Nursing Home (Photo credit: LOLren)

When you are thinking of moving your parent into a senior living home or you are considering assisted living, knowing how to go about saving money on costs altogether can help to alleviate stress on you and your family throughout the actual transition of moving itself. Saving money on your parent's senior living can be done with a bit of research and an understanding of your parent's needs and wants in a senior living care facility or home.

Determine Needs

Before selecting a senior living solution for your parent, it is important to consider their needs as well as the space they require before comparing your options. If your parent requires daily care and medical aid, keep this in mind before shopping around for the right senior living facility or home care solution.

Consider Your Budget

Consider the budget you have available to pay for the costs of a senior living facility monthly, annually or even if you choose to opt for home care. It is also important to consider whether your parent is eligible for medical aid from the state or government based on their age and current state of health.

>

I remember looking for a place for my dad to stay and budget was huge for my family. Sunshine Retirement Communities was a place we found that happened to have a cost of living calculator on their site. This was very helpful in projecting the costs our family would need to take into consideration when planning to finance his retirement. More info about that calculator here.

Sharing Space

According to Paying for Senior Care, sharing an apartment space or senior assisted living home is also another way to reduce costs, which is ideal if you are on a budget but still seeking additional amenities for your parent.

Compare Out-Of-State Assisted Living Homes

It is also highly advisable to review and compare out-of-state assisted living homes and senior care options. Some states throughout the US have a drastically lower cost altogether for healthcare, including healthcare for seniors.

Amenities and Features

Consider the types of amenities and features your parent is looking for with a senior living care facility or program. The types of amenities and features that are often available within senior living homes and facilities range from medical doctors and nurses to professionals to assist with bathing, cooking, cleaning and other daily activities. Consider the type of activities your parent enjoys as well as outdoor options that may be available before selecting senior living care for your loved one.

The more time you take to research various senior living homes and services, the easier it is to find a suitable location for your own parent. Taking the time to research occupancy, space available as well as amenities featured at various senior living homes can also give you and your parent more insight into determining the right placement at any age.

Preparing for High Health Care Costs After Retirement

Preparing for retirement can be difficult. Rising healthcare costs don’t make it any easier. This is especially true for older people who need to see a doctor, dentist or ophthalmologist more often than other younger people. Anyone who wants to retire will need to prepare for them.

What Changes Are Retirees Facing?

The landscape of the healthcare industry has changed significantly over the last decade. Here are some reasons healthcare costs are becoming more burdensome to people after retirement:

· Fewer employers are offering healthcare plans to retirees. The percentage has shrunk from 66% to 33% since the early 90s.

· Average healthcare costs have increased significantly in recent years. In 2013 a retiree would need to have saved between $220,000 and $360,000 to cover their healthcare expenses.

· Medicare cuts have made it more difficult for some seniors to find providers that offer healthcare, which means they often have to pay out of pocket.

There are also other changes that help some retirees while hurting others. The new Affordable Care Act is one of them. Many people with preexisting healthcare problems will be able to save money on their healthcare costs when the ACA goes into effect, but others are going to have to pay more.

Healthcare costs will continue to be a problem for many retirees in the near future. You will need to make sure that you prepare for them.

Preparing for Healthcare Costs Before You Retire

Anyone that plans on retiring before they are eligible for Medicare will need to be prepared to pay for expensive healthcare costs. Even if you have Medicare you will still need to pay a lot of money for your care. Here are some ways that you can prepare for these costs.

Start Saving Before Retirement

You will need to start saving money long before you retire. Try putting as much money as possible into your IRA, 401K and other tax sheltered savings accounts. One expert advises that you will have a 90% chance of being able to cover your healthcare costs if you save $360,000 before retirement. You will want to save even more if you have existing medical problems such as diabetes or eye problems. Seeing an endocrinologist or ophthalmologist will be easier if you have prepared for it ahead of time.

Plan for Higher Costs if You Are High Income

Medicare Part D beneficiaries making over $170,000 a year will need to pay more for their benefits. People making between $170,001 and $214,000 will pay 40% more plus $11.60 more for coverage. Those making over $428,000 will be paying 200% more plus an extra $66.60 every month. Anyone that exceeds these incomes will need to plan for these costs.

Choose the Right Plans Before and After Retirement

Both patients receiving Medicare and those seeking private insurance on the exchange will have a number of options. You will need to find a plan that offers the coverage that you need. If you have serious medical conditions then you may need to choose a plan with higher premiums and lower out of pocket expenses. It may be a good idea to purchase a silver or platinum plan on the health exchange if you don’t qualify for Medicare, because these plans are cheaper for people who have many healthcare costs.

If you are making less than 250% of the federal poverty line then you may qualify for an enhanced silver plan. You may be able to deduct a lot of your income after retirement so you should speak with your insurance agent or an ACA Navigator to see if you can qualify.

About the author: Kalen is finance and consumer writer. He shares tips on preparing for new changes in a changing world.

Why Accident Insurance Is Necesary To Car Drivers?

• Almost all countries across the globe consider car insurance as a mandatory requirement. This means that a car must have a valid insurance cover for it to operate on public roads.

• However, people tend not to know the importance of having a personal accident insurance cover. In fact, some only buy insurance for the sake of abiding to the laid traffic and insurance laws.

• Accident insurance is of great importance more than people take it. A great number of people who have been involved in a road accident before can attest to the fact that the accident insurance cover was of great importance.

• You must therefore ensure you have a personal accident insurance to avoid any inconveniences should an accident occur

• Note that a car accident comes forth with a lot of complicated issues. Once a driver is involved in a car accident, a lot of troubles are bound to follow. In this regard, accident insurance is important to help victims go through such troubles.

• Once involved in a car accident, you insurer will require your car registration details. This will help them ascertain that indeed your car was involved in an accident.

• The insurance is then processed and compensation granted to the victim once confirmed. The following are benefits of having an accident insurance:

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

• Sometimes the accident might be intense to the extent of confining victims into disability.

• Also, an accident can be serious to an extent of making you not to work for a long time. In such cases, it might prove daunting to cater for your personal and family matters.

• However, if you are covered for motor accidents, your insurer will be there to provide you with financial support especially in times when catering for your living proves hard.

• In the same vein, death can result from an accident. In such cases, accident insurance will be important since it will help in catering for the family of the deceased.

MEDICAL CARE

• Injuries that occur as a result of accidents can be serious. In such cases, you will require medical attention which again might be expensive to pay for.

• In relation to this, the injured party will have no worries of settling medical bills. This means that you will undergo the recommended treatment without any kind of financial strains.

OTHER EXPENSES

• The good thing about accident insurance is that the victim will have any other expense resulting from the accident catered for.

• You will only require proving that the expense came as a result of the accident. Once confirmed, the insurer will step in to pay for such expenses.

• To pay for different expenses that occur during the accident can be super costly especially if left for the driver to settle personally.

• However, it is important to note that not all insurance companies offer such benefits to their clients. You must therefore take enough time to come up with an insurer with best deals and benefits.

Author Bio: Amy Lawson is a content writer. She is a professional blogger from London and have written many articles on Entertainment, Finance and Health categories. Now she is doing research on british driving licence etc.

Six Ways to Prepare your Family Financially for Retirement

Every family does what it can to financially prepare for retirement. As you prepare to enjoy your golden years, there are things you and your family can do to make sure that the necessary financial resources are available. 

Move Your Retirement Account To Something More Stable

For years, you have allowed your retirement account at work to remain aggressive and build as much value as possible. As you hit the home stretch and are preparing to use that retirement account, you will want to move your investment options to more conservative choices to make sure that you do not lose value in your account. Now is not the time to make risky high return investments. Stick with safer more stable accounts.

Pay Off Your Home

By paying off your mortgage before you retire, you will eliminate that expensive monthly payment and you will open up the equity in your home. If you ever need to borrow money for any reason during your retirement, your home's equity makes an excellent borrowing option.

Buy Long Term Care Insurance

The long term care insurance Spokane residents use helps to supplement any other kind of health insurance that your family may have. It is difficult to predict what kinds of health insurance resources you will have when you retire, and you also never know what kinds of health care costs you will incur. Long term care insurance helps to preserve your retirement savings by providing the care you need later in life.

Look Into Health Care Options

Along with long term care insurance, you will also need a general health insurance policy to cover your healthcare costs after retirement. Always purchase the most complete health insurance coverage you can to help save money as your care needs get more expensive. For example, Medicare offers several supplement options that will help pay for the costs that basic Medicare insurance does not cover. Without these supplements, your out of pocket costs could have a significant negative effect on your finances especially if you require complex prescriptions or anything else not covered in the standard plan.

Pay Off Your Credit Cards

Most retirees live on a fixed incomes that can make it difficult to live if they rack up credit card bills. Pay off your credit cards before retirement and get rid of all of your cards but one. If you can't pay for it in cash when you retire, then you shouldn't have it. Living on a fixed income requires a well planned budget and you won't have room for extra credit card bills in that budget. 

Get Life Insurance

If you do not have life insurance, then get some before you retire. The last thing you want to do is saddle your family with a tremendous financial burden when you pass away. If you have a mortgage or children in college, this is a must.

Planning for retirement is exciting, but it is also a tremendous responsibility. Make sure that your accounts are in order before you retire so that you and your family can enjoy the plans you have made. The sooner you start saving and planning, the easier it will be once you actually retire.

7 Surprising Ways to Save Money on Medical Bills

There are many unexpected expenses that that can wreak havoc on your budget. Medical bills are certainly at the top of that list. And they always seem to appear when you least likely expect them, or want them for that matter. Fortunately, not all hope is loss. There is light at the end of the financial tunnel. Here are seven ways to save money on medical bills and begin reclaiming your financial freedom!

Call The Medical Billing Company

Before you pay your bill, you should call the medical billing company listed on the bill for information. The company should be able to give you information on your bill and ways to save money on your medical bills.

Check for Errors On The Bill

A surprising amount of medical bills contain errors. In some cases, patients are billed for items that they did not use, or they are billed twice for the same item. Although it may take some time, it is wise to go over each and every bill to check for errors before paying your bill.

Make Sure That Your Insurance Was Billed

Medical billing companies send out bills around the start of each month. However, your insurance check may not have cleared before the bill was sent out. This means that the amount that you owe on the bill is inaccurate. 

Pay The Insurance Rate

One of the leading medical billing companies in Utah advises that If you don't have insurance, ask if you can pay the same amount that the medical insurance companies pay. Hospitals and other medical providers bill self-paying patients differently than they do patients with health insurance. Because of this, it is wise to ask if you might be able to pay this amount instead of the amount that you owe.

Set Up a Payment Plan With Automatic Deductions

If you owe a bit on your medical bill and cannot pay the amount, you should ask to set up a payment arrangement. In some cases, you can save money if you agree to have the fee deducted automatically from your checking account.

Ask About Any Charity Funds That Might Be Available

If you have a modest income, you may qualify for a charity fund that some medical organizations have created. If you do qualify, a portion or your entire bill may be forgiven if you do qualify. It is definitely worth checking into!

Make Sure That The Doctor or Other Health Provider Accepts Your Insurance!

Before making an appointment, make sure to double check. If you go to a doctor outside of you network, your fees may be higher or you may have to pay the entire bill out of pocket.

There is no way to avoid the inevitability of medical bills. We all have to face them at one point or another. While no one is immune to medical bills, following the advice listed above will go a long ways to minimizing medical bill expenses and putting money back in your wallet.

Servicing Patient Accounts is NOT the Same as Bill Collecting

Today, more than ever, health insurance is both a necessity and a hot button issue. Even families with adequate and above adequate incomes struggle to find decent health insurance plans and be able to afford them. In some families only the children are insured, and the parents take their chances while trying to save up some funds for that proverbial rainy day. In other families, even when both of the parents are working, it is not possible to purchase much health insurance, and so when a major medical crisis occurs, there is a substantial bill that needs to be paid after the emergency is over and all available insurance has been utilized.

It seems to be part of human nature to put our heads in the sand when bad news arrives; this is especially true of past due notices. These ominous-looking missives tend to be put in some kind of “I’ll look at it later” pile and then ignored until forgotten. But in the famous words of J. Reuben Clark, “Debt never sleeps, never tires, is never laid off or sick, and works every day of the week with no holidays or break.” Those who have received services from the hospital that have not yet been paid for don’t seem to realize that it’s always in their best interest to work with the hospital immediately after the bill arrives in order to make arrangements. The longer a former patient ignores his or her account, the harder it becomes to rectify it easily, without hard feelings on both sides.

That is why a patient accounts servicing company, such as Financial Health, can be such a valuable asset in the management of patient receivables. Such a service works with BOTH the hospital and the patient to ensure that the patient continues to receive the same kind of respect and empathy after they are discharged as they experienced while they were in the hospital. This is a basic tenet of all good account management services. The cliched bill collector, heaping abuse and threats on the debtor over the phone, has no place in modern account management practice.

This is something that lawyers have learned as well -- the adversarial mindset is less profitable in the long run than working as a mediator. In dealing with patient accounts, the accounts receivable professional is not only working for and on behalf of the hospital but also working for and on behalf of the patient. It’s not a question of guilt, shame, or threats. The professional account manager is a knowledgeable and dispassionate third party who is there to help both sides negotiate a mutually agreeable payment schedule.

Healthcare receivable management is not a profession for amateurs. There are state and federal laws specifically governing the treatment of past due accounts, as well as innumerable rules and regulations set by the insurance companies. A professional accounts manager must be familiar with all of this, becoming, in the process, part accountant, part lawyer, part negotiator, and part financial advisor.

A professional servicing company like Financial Health will begin interacting with patients who have account issues very early on in the process; this is a proven way to increase receivables and to lessen tension. So if you are a hospital or clinic looking to increase your bottom line, you should look into an account servicing agency soon -- and if you are a patient who is worrying about your bill, you should know that most hospitals today enlist the aid of a professional account servicing company that will treat you with respect and courtesy and have at its fingertips many resources to help you settle your debt in a fair and comfortable manner.

The Benefits of Expat Health Insurance: Why not Having a Policy in Place Could Spell Disaster for you and your Family

Expatriate medical insurance is a must for people that live or work abroad. It ensures that no matter how basic or expensive your local medical facilities are, you can still expect to receive world-class treatment regardless of your location.

When you move abroad, you are rarely given access to free medical treatment from the relevant government and healthcare system, which means that you need to fund your own. The standard of healthcare may be poorer than what you have come to expect from your own country, even if you are given full or partial access to it.

Potential problems upon returning

Expat health insurance is designed to address all these concerns. Recently, more and more people have chosen to invest in expat insurance to cover them for their return to the UK too. This is because you’re likely to be classed as a non-resident by the NHS once you have been away for a certain period of time. If you have a medical problem once you return to the UK, you may be handed a bill for any treatment.

The government has recently brought in a series of strict guidelines around free NHS treatment in a bid to eradicate the problem of ‘health tourism’ – a trend involving non-residents heading to the UK for free medical care. This means that those regarded as former or non-residents may now find it harder than ever to secure free healthcare after a spell away – especially if they are not declaring the UK to be their permanent home.

International cover

However, some expatriate health insurance ceases to apply when a person re-enters the country, essentially placing them in no-man’s land. For this reason it’s advisable to invest in an international healthcare plan which remains in place no matter where you are in the world – including the UK.

Some countries don’t offer a public medical service or an equivalent to the NHS at all. More and more people worldwide are therefore investing in health insurance policies to cover them. Many countries that do have a free or subsidised medical service in place are finding it harder and harder to deliver the service that is needed.

Access to world-class hospitals

Some countries have various health risks attached to them and can be so dangerous to visit that not investing in the relevant insurance is virtually unthinkable. An international private medical insurance can grant you access to a well-facilitated hospital with the standard of care that you will have become accustomed to.

Some people take risks by not signing up for international health insurance only to find themselves faced with a costly medical emergency whilst they are away – that they may simply not be able to pay for. This explains why the insurance is so valuable even if the chances of you needing treatment are low.

The old adage that ‘it’s better to be safe than sorry’ is particularly true when it comes to international medical insurance, so make sure you talk to a dedicated broker such as expatriatehealthcare.com first before making the move abroad. If you aren’t covered by expat medical insurance but find that you need it, the results could be catastrophic or even fatal.

AUTHOR BIO: Nick Manfield is a freelance writer specialising in insurance. He’s lived abroad for several years and blogs frequently on the expat experience. In his research for this piece, he visited several websites, including http://www.expatriatehealthcare.com/