Medical Health Insurance

One of the most difficult problems with owning a business is finding appropriate medical health insurance. While working for a large employer, most people are offered a medical health insurance plan that is chosen by the company. Because of the number of enrollments they provide, they receive group coverage at a discount rate. Along with this group rate, they are also able to offer medical health insurance to people that have pre-existing conditions. However, when one tries to find medical health insurance on his or her own when starting a business, it is a whole different ball game.

The first obstacle every entrepreneur has to deal with is finding affordable coverage. The medical health insurance industry offers several tiers of coverage at different price ranges. The most affordable would be hospital coverage, which would only cover expenses during a hospital stay. From there, the next tier would be a medical health insurance plan with a very large deductible. Once this large deductible sum is met, the insurance plan would pay for expenses beyond that.

If one chooses to opt for insurance plan with a lower deductible, the monthly payments can be quite expensive, but the deductible sum is generally much lower. Medical needs certainly need to be taken into consideration when choosing an appropriate medical health insurance plan, such as usual number of doctor visits per year and medical equipment needs. Also take into consideration things like starting a family, as bills for labor and delivery and post partum hospital care can be quite large. If a business is just starting out, it must be taken into consideration whether a large lump sum or more expensive monthly premiums would be more manageable.

Another obstacle that may be faced is finding coverage at all if you have a pre-existing condition such as diabetes, severe asthma or cancer. Many medical insurance companies do not offer coverage at all if this problem exists. Other insurance companies may offer twice yearly open enrollment periods to obtain medical health insurance, but they are limited, costly and are often HMOs.

A fine option for those looking for independent medical health insurance is joining a local group of businesses. This allows a group of companies to obtain health insurance as one large group, and offers the same advantage that larger companies have of lower costs and coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.

Obtaining affordable and effective medical insurance can be daunting, but it can be done with some careful research and willingness to explore all options.