Arkansas's health insurance is expensive, and it doesn't look like it will get much cheaper any time soon. In fact, right now about 17% of all Arkansans don't have any kind of health insurance, and that number is likely to go up as more and more companies stop offering group health insurance.
So, is it possible to get cheap health insurance in Arkansas at all?
It is, but you might have to change your ideas about what your health insurance should do.
But before we get into the details of how to find cheap health insurance in Arkansas, there is some great news for people who can't get health insurance because they have a pre-existing condition or for a number of other reasons. It is known as CHIP, which stands for Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool.
This is a special fund that the state of Arkansas runs to help people get health insurance who wouldn't be able to get it on the open market. It is not based on how much money you make. Go to http://www.chiparkansas.org to find out if you or a family member is eligible for CHIP coverage.
For the rest of us, the search for health insurance that doesn't cost too much goes on. If the place you work offers health insurance, you should look into it. Health insurance for a group is almost always cheaper than health insurance for one person.
If your job doesn't offer health insurance or you work for yourself, it's up to you to find the best and cheapest coverage you can.
Before you even apply for health insurance, let's talk about a few ways you can save money on it.
First of all, if you smoke, you need to quit. When you smoke, your health insurance costs go up by a huge amount. Also, if you are overweight, try to lose at least a few pounds. Your Body Mass Index, or BMI, will affect your monthly health insurance premiums at least in part. If you can lose even a few pounds, you might move down one notch on the BMI scale, which could save you hundreds of dollars a year on your health insurance premiums.
Your copay should go up. When you go to the doctor, your insurance company pays a portion of the bill, and you also pay a portion. If you put in more money, your insurance company will lower your monthly premium as a thank you. This can be a great deal for people who don't go to the doctor very often during the year.
Your deductible can also be raised. The deductible is the amount of money you have to pay for your own health care each year before your insurance company will start to pay. If your deductible is higher, your monthly premium will be less.
If you still can't afford health insurance but need to protect your home, savings, or other assets, you might want to look into a policy with a very high deductible. These are insurance plans with an annual deductible of $2,000 or even $3,000. The premiums aren't very high, but during most years, your insurance won't pay anything at all toward your health care costs.
So, what's the point? The point is that if you have a serious accident or get sick with a terrible disease, your hospital and doctor's bills can quickly reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you don't have insurance, you could lose your house, your savings, and everything else you own.
A policy with a very high deductible is a safety net that protects everything you've worked for in case something bad happens.
But no matter what you've done to lower your health insurance premiums, it's time to get online and find at least 3 websites that let you compare policies and prices from different insurance companies.
Use at least three different sites to compare. This way, you'll be able to compare all of the Arkansas insurance companies that offer health care insurance. Once you have done this, you can be sure that you have the most affordable health insurance in Arkansas.
