Personal Finance and Investing

Thanks to rising health care costs, health insurance can cost a bundle. But you can still get low cost small business health insurance in Colorado if you know how. Here’s how to do it …

Small Business Health Insurance

As a small business owner you can buy a group health plan and get lower premiums, plus better coverage than you would with individual insurance. Your premiums are calculated for the group as a whole, and individuals may purchase additional coverage to suit their needs. As an employer you get tax deductions for any contributions you make.

There are a number of types of health insurance plans you can buy that won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Here are the most popular:

HMO (health maintenance organization) – An HMO is a comprehensive health care plan that pays for your and your employees doctor visits, hospital bills, and prescription drugs. You pay a monthly premium and are assigned to a group of health care providers – doctors, hospitals, and specialists.

HMOs usually have no deductibles, and co-payments are anywhere from $5 to $15 per doctor visit, so your out-of-pocket expenses are low. These plans are the cheapest comprehensive health care plans.

MSA (medical saving account) – An MSA is a tax-sheltered savings account, similar to an IRA, that’s used to pay medical expenses. All the money you deposit into your MSA are tax deductible and can be withdrawn at any time to pay for your medical expenses. Any money left in the account continues to grow tax free.

MSAs are typically combined with an inexpensive, high-deductible health insurance plan. You pay for medical expenses with the money from your MSA until the deductible on your health plan is met. Then your plan takes over and pays for your medical expenses. MSAs provide a low-cost alternative to high-cost health plans.

Major Medical Health Insurance – Major medical, or catastrophic health insurance is limited to paying for major medical expenses like cancer and heart disease. These plans typically pay your hospital expenses, surgical costs, X-rays, and lab tests, but do not pay for routine doctor visits or prescriptions drugs costs.

Where to Get Low Cost Small Business Health Insurance

The only way to know if you’re getting a good rate is to compare rates from different companies. You can compare rates quickly and easily by going to an insurance comparison website where you can get rate quotes from multiple companies on one website.

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In case you are not familiar with the market of insurance in general and healthcare coverage in particular, it can be quite confusing at first. But do not worry, as it is far simpler than you may think. Here’s a short recap of the most important things to know when shopping for health coverage plans. Of course, it’s not that profound to make an insurance specialist out of you in a single read, but it sure will help you find a decent policy with good coverage and low price.

Your options

Individual health policies – it is the most obvious option for most people, especially when not provided with healthcare coverage through their employers. You can find many insurance companies providing individual health plans. There are different regulations in every state regarding individual health coverage so make sure to learn more about your state before actually getting the policy. The best source for this information is your state’s insurance department.

High risk pools – these specific pools are the best solution in case you have been denied ordinary individual insurance due to a pre-existing condition. Not all states have high risk pools, but if your state allows them you will want to look better into this option. They typically have higher rates if compared to usual individual coverage, but it’s far better than having no healthcare coverage at all.

HIPAA coverage – in case you have recently been canceled of a job-base group plan and all COBRA coverage does not apply to you anymore, there’s a thing called HIPAA coverage that may be useful to you. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) coverage is available in all states and can be of a use for people who can’t get individual coverage due to pre-existing conditions. This way HIPAA coverage is a good option in states where high risk pools do not exist. But even if there are high risk polls in your state you should consider both possibilities. Consult with your insurance agent to see what’s more appropriate in your case.

Whom to address

Insurance agents – an insurance agent is the person that will connect you with the insurance company, so it’s better to ask him or her about your options. But before you ask questions, make sure the agent is licensed for providing health insurance in your state. To do so, you can address your state insurance department and check the status of the agent you’ve been talking too. If the person is licensed, their experience in the domain can help you find good health coverage.

Department of insurance – besides giving information about state regulation and agents’ license, your state insurance department can also be a very valuable source of information on the whole health insurance market in your state. Don’t expect any recommendations to be made, though, as the workers are restricted from making any commercial claims. Use the department as your info source to know what companies are working in your area and then contact them directly.

Websites – there are many websites dedicated to health insurance out there and they can be a very good source of information to use. Many sites also provide free online quotes and state-specific data so you won’t have any problems with finding the right deal from a local provider.

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