Affordable Individual & Family Health Insurance in North Carolina, NC

Health insurance costs in the U.S. have risen at an average rate of 12% per year since 2000. These health care costs are being passed down to companies and individuals alike. More and more companies fail to offer health insurance to their employees due to these costs. So what is a person to do?

If you are a North Carolina resident looking for affordable health insurance, you have come to the right place. Read on for a general overview of your options..

Catastrophic and High Deductible Health Insurance Coverage

Catastrophic health insurance is one of the more affordable options to consider. This is one of the reasons why Americans are purchasing high deductible health plans or catastrophic health insurance, more and more. For purposes of this article, catastrophic health insurance will be used interchangeably with the terms - High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Major Medical plans.

This type of insurance has lower premiums in exchange for higher deductibles. Premiums are the amount of money the insurance company charges you, to insure you. Deductibles are the amount of money a person must pay out-of-pocket before the insurance company begins paying on a claim.The consumer is responsible for out-of-pocket expenses until the deductible has been met. You’re only responsible for the deductible when you receive care.

Catastrophic health insurance is designed to protect you from ruinous medical costs while encouraging you to shop wisely for routine health care. If you are looking for a safety net in the event of a major medical event such as an accident or serious illness, you may want to consider this.

Here's how it works:

• You choose a higher-than-normal deductible, usually between $500 and $2,000, depending on your insurer.
• You agree to cover your own medical costs up to that deductible amount.
• Once you spend up to your deductible, your insurance company covers 80-100 percent of your medical costs (with certain restrictions).

Who should consider a high deductible insurance plan?

• people who can afford to pay out of pocket for minor things, but don’t want to pay for major surgeries, illnesses, or accidents.
• people who are relatively healthy
• families
• middle age individuals who see their premiums increase with age
• college students that are not covered under their parent’s insurance plans

As you can see, catastrophic health insurance leaves the choice in your hands. You make the choices that fit you and/or your family best; your insurance company rewards you for taking on a measure of additional financial risk. Rates for both high deductible and traditional insurance plans have increased in recent years, but the high deductible rate has increased slower.

North Carolina Individual, and Self Employed Family Health Insurance Plans

North Carolina residents have several types of health insurance plans to choose from. In order to keep costs down, many of these plans use managed care to provide customers with medical care at the lowest cost.

Managed care is a system that uses an organized group of doctors, hospitals and other health providers. This care system has certain procedures agreed to be most cost effective by those in the health care profession. Quality care and cost effectiveness are primary considerations when giving medical services to members of the health plan. In this type of plan, the patient is encouraged to seek medical services from within the network, or pay an added fee to go out-of-network. Some types of managed care include point of service (POS) plans, preferred provider organizations (PPO) and health savings (HSA) accounts.

The least expensive of managed care health plans is the (HMO) Health Maintenance Organization. These plans allow you to choose from any doctor from within the network for care. Be sure check for providers in your area before deciding on a policy.

North Carolina Health Insurance Quotes

You can now go shopping online for health insurance any time, night or day, for affordable individual & family health insurance.Just click on the following link to get North Carolina health insurance quotes. It's fast, it's free, and you're under no obligation. You'll get 4 to 5 competitive quotes for health insurance.