Quick Insurance Tips

In many cases, there are no discounts for group health insurance, when compared to individual health insurance!  This is a very common misconception.  When you buy more of something, you usually get a better price.  This isn’t always true with medical insurance coverage.

A private medical insurance application is usually medically underwritten.  A medically underwritten application is one that is subject to screening by the insurance company. This can make the price lower because the insurance company has the right to deny applications for those who have medical conditions that they expect to generate more claims and cost them more money. 

If an insurance company in Maryland can’t eliminate less healthy applicants from consideration for a group policy, but they can do so for an individual plan a Maryland group health insurance plan will cost more than a similar individual policy.

Group insurance plans are less frequently medically underwritten.  This means that the insurance companies have higher expenses for these plans and therefore have to charge more because they are often insuring people who are less healthy. People who are less healthy file more claims and cost more money.

If you are self-employed and only have yourself and your family to be concerned with, you should look at individual health insurance as an option.  These policies are often more comprehensive than the plans that you will be offered through your business. 

You may not have the same tax benefits when you purchase a non-group or private health insurance policy.  However, the price savings may be more impactful than the tax savings would be. 

It always pays to crunch the numbers before making a final decision, but in many instances group health insurance discounts are more apparent than real.  The policy you purchase as individual as opposed to as a business owner will often be less expensive and provide better coverage.