Daniel Stewart

Should I Get Cheap or Expensive Health Insurance?

Shopping for the right health insurance plan can be overwhelming. Whether you get it from your employer or the marketplace, there are many options and countless factors to consider. Health insurance protects you, preventing you from footing an enormous bill whenever you need medical care.

Take one look at your options, and you'll see plans with varying levels of coverage and vastly different prices. While it's important to prioritize your healthcare needs, you must recognize the cost of coverage. Some plans will come with higher monthly premium payments. Others will be more affordable but come with coverage tradeoffs. Which option is right for you?

The Pros and Cons of Expensive Health Insurance

It's always a good idea to use a health insurance calculator to determine the overall costs of coverage. Health insurance is a monthly expense you'll need to keep paying to maintain coverage.

More expensive plans come with advantages and disadvantages. The biggest drawback is a substantial monthly premium payment. Top-tier Platinum plans on the marketplace can cost well over $700 a month! But if you can fit that figure into your budget, it may be worth considering.

With an expensive healthcare plan, you're getting the best coverage possible. More importantly, you have lower out-of-pocket expenses. These policies typically have significantly lower deductibles, which is how much you spend before coverage kicks in.

In this case, expensive plans might be beneficial if you expect to require costly medical care throughout the year.

The Pros and Cons of Cheap Health Insurance

On the other side of the coin, we have cheap health insurance. After using a health insurance calculator, you might realize lower premiums are the best for your budget.

The advantage of a cheap health insurance plan is that you're paying less upfront for coverage. However, the disadvantage is that you will need to pay more out-of-pocket costs before you get coverage. Cheaper plans have higher deductibles. Sometimes, you might need to spend several thousand dollars before your health insurance company will start covering those bills.

The good news is that some cheaper plans qualify you for other benefits. For example, having a high-deductible health plan enables you to open a health savings account (HSA).

Author Resource:-

Daniel Stewart has been helping people with their money management and personal finance with over 15 years' experience in business finance. You can find his thoughts at healthcare trends blog.