How To Compare Individual Health Insurance Plans

Shopping for an individual health insurance plan is easy, but finding a plan that has the coverage you need at the rate that you want can be tough. Thankfully, there are a number of comparison sites on the Internet that will find all of the individual health insurance plans in your area and give you the basics for each.

1. Use the Internet or a phone book to get a list of providers and policies available in your area. Call each insurance provider, visit each company's website or use a comparison website to get quotes from each insurance provider about each of their policies. 


2. Check each plan’s A.M. Best rating and eliminate any companies that do not meet your expectations. You want to be comfortable with the provider and plan that you choose. This rating will give you a general idea of the financial stability and reliability of each insurance company. After all, you don't want to have insurance with a company who can't afford to pay your medical bills. An A++ is the highest rating and a D is the lowest rating for companies that aren't under regulatory supervision, aren't in liquidation and whose rating isn't suspended.


3. Eliminate any policies that do not offer the coverage that you need. For example, if you regularly buy prescription drugs, eliminate plans that do not have that benefit. You may need to look into the fine print of a policy to discover what specific options they do not cover. Other policies may allow you to add on things like maternity coverage and prescription drugs for an additional monthly fee.


4. Sort the remaining policies by cost. You need to take the monthly cost, the deductible and the co-payment into consideration. If you use your policy regularly, then the deductible and co-payment may be more important to you then monthly cost. However, if you rarely use your policy, then the monthly cost may be more important to you than the deductible or co-payment.