Cheap Major Medical Insurance

Cheap major medical insurance can be a cost effective option for those who don't visit the doctor often and who don't need comprehensive medical insurance coverage.

Major Medical Insurance Explained

Major medical insurance, also called a high deductible health plan or catastrophic coverage, is medical insurance that provides you with coverage for expensive medical emergencies but not for coverage for the day-to-day costs of medical care. A major medical coverage policy generally kicks in after you have reached a certain threshold of spending. This threshold, or deductible, is usually several thousand dollars.

With most major medical policies, once you reach the deductible, your insurer will take over and pay all or most of your medical bills. Some major medical policies include prescription coverage in the items your insurer will pay for after your deductible is reached, but others won't. You are thus protected from huge medical bills, but not from the little ones you incur as a routine part of maintaining your health.

Considering Major Medical

Those who want to be protected from financial loss resulting from a medical emergency, but who don't need coverage for routine care, may find that the premiums and cost for cheap major medical insurance are far more affordable than buying comprehensive coverage. For example, if you only go to the doctor once a year for an annual checkup and you don't take any medicine, it may not be worth it for you to have an insurance policy that charges you a few hundred dollars per month for coverage you don't need. The premiums for major medical can be much lower.

On the other hand, if you have frequent doctor visits, or if you have frequent prescriptions, the cost of standard medical care may be more worth it for you than a major medical policy.

Buying Cheap Major Medical Insurance

Those who wish to consider buying cheap major medical insurance have a number of options:

• Many states offer major medical coverage. For example, California has a Major Risk Medical Insurance Program, and New York offers a high deductible health plan through Healthy NY. Buying coverage from the state can make the costs even lower than buying from a private insurer, but in some cases, maximum income limits do apply in determining your eligibility for coverage.
• Major Medical Insurance allows you to compare quotes on major medical policies from private insurers.
• eHealth Insurance.com also allows you to compare policy costs, including costs for major medical coverage.
• Individual insurance companies, such as Blue Cross, allow you to purchase a major medical policy directly from their website

How to Compare

There are a number of important factors to consider:

• The monthly premiums: How much does it cost to buy the coverage?
• The deductible: How much do you need to pay before your insurance kicks in?
• Coverage: Once your insurance kicks in, what does it cover? Hospital visits? Prescription drugs? Doctor visits? Surgery? Make sure your coverage is adequate.
• Policy Limits: At what point do the medical expenses become so high that your policy stops paying?

Health Savings Accounts

Often, major medical insurance is combined with a health savings account. This means you are allowed to put the amount of your deductible into a special account, and to do so with pre-tax dollars. This allows you to pay for your medical expenses with money that has not been taxed, thus reducing your overall medical expenses.

When buying a policy, ask the insurance company or agent about opening such an HSA to reduce your costs even further and to make major medical an even wiser financial decision by increasing your overall savings.