Millions of Americans can't afford to pay for health insurance, and every day, more and more people lose their health coverage. Luckily, you live in New Hampshire, which is one of only a few states that gives some of its residents an affordable alternative to skyrocketing health insurance prices.
If you can't afford health insurance because of a medical condition you already have, the state of New Hampshire has a plan for you called the New Hampshire Health Plan, or NHHP.
People who qualify for the NHHP because of their health or for a number of other reasons will automatically get insurance. The cost of NHHP policies is kept low, so many New Hampshire residents can get health insurance that they couldn't get through private insurance or that was too expensive.
Visit http://www.nhhealthplan.org/ to learn more about NHHP coverage and what you need to do to qualify.
But whether you buy traditional health insurance or get coverage through the NHHP, there are a few things you can do to get the best rates on health insurance in New Hampshire.
Start by making sure that your health is as good as it can be. That means you have to stop smoking or using any other kind of tobacco and, if you need to, lose weight. Even a small amount of weight loss can lower your monthly insurance costs. No matter how hard it is to lose weight or quit smoking, the benefits will last for the rest of your life, and you'll save money, too.
If you drive a fancy sports car or muscle car, have a dangerous job, or do dangerous or extreme sports often, your health insurance premiums will be higher. After all, the more likely it is that you will get hurt, the more it will cost the insurance company, so they have to charge you more each month.
Your health insurance premiums can also go down if you raise the percentage of your copay for regular doctor visits or lab work. This can be a great deal for people who, on average, only go to the doctor a few times a year.
If you still can't afford health insurance, you could raise your deductible. The higher your deductible, the less you'll have to pay each month for your premium. In fact, a lot of people are starting to look at health insurance in a whole new way. They are buying low-cost health insurance policies with very high deductibles as a safety net to protect their savings, their home, and other things they have worked and saved for their whole lives.
The idea behind low-cost high-deductible policies (with deductibles of $2,000 or even $3,000) is that the insurance won't pay for routine care like doctor visits, lab work, or even simple outpatient surgeries. Instead, the point of health insurance is to protect a person's home and assets in the event of a catastrophic illness or accident, which can quickly rack up medical bills in the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But no matter what kind of health insurance is best for you and your family, the next step is to go online and compare policies and prices on at least two and preferably three different websites. This way, you can be sure to compare all of the different insurance companies in New Hampshire that offer health care insurance, and you can be sure to get the best rates on health insurance anywhere in New Hampshire.