Alabama Health Insurance

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Alabama Health Insurance

Health insurance is now generally available in two categories: individual and group.
Individual insurance is mainly for those who are self-employed, or if they are employed by a company that does not offer a health plan, or if they have a family and want individual insurance for family members. When you buy an individual plan, you have to pay an annual premium as well as a deductible for each insured dependent, up to a base amount. If you purchase a group policy, you need to pay an annual premium, co-payments payable at each medical service, and a deductible payable before insurance begins issuing money for your eligible medical bills.

When you purchase individual health insurance, Alabama laws allow the companies to turn you down for coverage. The exclusion period for a pre-existing condition can exceed a couple of years. Alabama does not regulate the limit of the premium price for individual insurance. According to the Alabama Department of Insurance, premiums depend on considerations such as medical care costs, coverage, age of policyholder, health, lifestyle habits (like smoking), location of residence, and optional premium wavers.

If you are under group health insurance from an employer, you must be provided insurance for a medical problem, cannot be charged any additional amount and your insurance cannot be cancelled if you fall sick. If you join a new company, you may have to wait for a while before your new boss starts the group health insurance. With pre-existing conditions, you may have to wait for coverage at a new job or have coverage for the condition excluded for a time. If you have had continuous coverage of over 63 days at a stretch, you will be entitled to creditable coverage. If you leave a position that had group health, you can qualify for COBRA at the same level of coverage. With HIPAA eligibility, you can get Alabama Health Insurance Plan under local laws.

Alabama Department of Insurance rules that small businesses cannot be denied group health coverage because of a health problem with someone in the employee group. Because of the health problems of your staff, a small business can have its premiums increased at the time of renewal. Self-employed persons, however, cannot purchase group health insurance. There are different rules if one wants to purchase health insurance through a business association.

Choosing the right health insurance quotes is a difficult. You should do a good amount of research before making your choice. The best thing is to appoint professional health insurance agents and brokers who can be of great help in this regard. They are experienced professionals who understand the market, conversant with all the regulations and know the industry. Who else but they can fix the best deal for you?

If you are a resident of Alabama, you will find a number of health insurance providers like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, Celtic Health Insurance, United HealthCare,
Fortis Health Insurance (now called Assurant Health) and Golden Rule Health Insurance.
They offer you various types of health plans to choose from.

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Regulations regarding individual health insurance

The Alabama Department of Insurance mandates that premiums for Alabama health insurance should be based on:

1) health care costs
2) underlying level of coverage
3) age of insured(s)
4) health of insured(s)
5) lifestyle habits (i.e. smoking)
6) location of residence
7) any optional premium wavers that may be in place.

There are no regulations limiting the premium price for individual insurance.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality provides another helpful resource. It will arm you with the information that you'll need to know to make a more informed and confident decision about your health insurance.

Additional Information on Alabama Health Insurance can be obtained from:

Alabama Department of Insurance
201 Monroe Street, Suite 1700
Montgomery, AL 36104
334-269-3550
www.aldoi.org

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