How to Find an Affordable Mississippi Health Insurance Quote
From Tupelo to Jackson to Biloxi, and the numerous small towns in between, there are thousands of Mississippi families and individuals struggling to find health insurance they can afford. Worse, there are hundreds of families who have already faced the crushing reality of worrying about personal bankruptcy and/or adequate access to health care services when a loved one has fallen ill. There are no simple, clear-cut solutions to this problem, but for too many state residents, this is anything but news to them. What might be news are the new advantages of shopping online for a Mississippi health insurance quote. Here’s what you need to know about online health insurance quotes, as well as general information about health insurance in Mississippi….
The Struggle to Find Affordable Health Insurance in Mississippi
All you need to know to understand the challenge of finding affordable Mississippi health insurance is that the state has the second lowest percentage of residents covered by employer-based health insurance (43.7%) and has the highest percentage of residents of any state for Medicaid-based coverage (21.2%). And these rates are calculated from 2008 data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Needless to say, recent economic hardships, including an unemployment rate at 11% or higher during the first six months of 2010, haven’t helped these numbers in the intervening period. Approximately, one out of every five Mississippi have no health insurance at all, and while you may not be able to afford the kind of health plan you want and, in all likelihood, deserve, even a basic, high-deductible health insurance policy is better than nothing at all.
Shopping for a Mississippi Health Insurance Quote
Shopping for a Mississippi health insurance quote is not all that different than it is in other states. You need to decide whether you want to pay extra for the privilege of maintaining complete autonomy over your health care services with an indemnity health insurance plan or whether you want the added value and extra hoop-jumping of a managed care plan (PPO, HMO, or POS). No cost-effective health plan is possible without a thorough assessment and balancing of annual premiums with potential out-of-pocket costs.
You should also take a look at some of the guarantees and special health insurance programs offered by the state. The state’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Risk Pool Association, for example, guarantees access to health insurance for individuals who are unable to obtain a policy on the private market. Mississippi is also one of a dozen or states that offer small group status to self-employed individuals, except those offered an alternate health plan by an employer. No matter how cheap you can make your annual premiums, however, no health insurance plan is going to work if it’s not there for you when you need it. So make sure you’re not signing on with a company who’s unlicensed, not selling actual health insurance, or has a poor track record littered with serious, consumer complaints.
Shopping Online for an Affordable Mississippi Health Insurance Quote
Undoubtedly, you already know about the Amazon.com’s and Craigslist’s of the online world, but online shopping goes much further than you think. Online referral services, such as NetQuote, give health insurance consumers tools they’ve never had before. First, you can reliably and confidently shop for health insurance quotes from the comfort and convenience of your own home, or wherever you have access to the Internet, for that matter. This allows you to largely avoid the high-pressure sales tactics of insurance agents and gives you more time to actually review and consider money-saving tweaks to your Mississippi health insurance policy. Second, it uses the free market to the consumers’ advantage, as insurance companies know they’re in direct competition with other insurers. Again, they have limited opportunities to pressure you into making a decision before you see what’s available from other insurance companies. And, finally, shopping online makes health insurance cheaper for everybody. Health insurance companies don’t end up spending as much money on advertising and marketing, not to mention high commission-based insurance brokers, when you shop online, allowing these companies to offer generally lower rates through an online referral service. There’s simply no downside and no better way to start your search for affordable health insurance in Mississippi.
